It's Saturday, which is still a monumental occasion even if it lacks Buckeye football. Cherish it by not looking at a screen all day (after reading my important blog post, obviously).
Word of the day: Parvenu.
HOOKER NOT PERFECT. Malik Hooker is my favorite player to come out of Ohio State since the Iron King, Cardale Jones, First of His Name, Poacher of Badgers, Controller of Tides, Slayer of Ducks, Troll Sultan, and 12th Son of Ohio. It will be forever a travesty we only witnessed one year of Hooker on the field. Such is how the amateur cookie breaks, though.
Despite undergoing hernia and labrum surgery, Hooker is expected to be selected within the first 15 picks of the draft. Given he won't perform at the combine, scouts only have his 13 games of film to evaluate.
Here's how his stock stands according to one report.
From profootballfocus.com:
Hooker is very much a projection at this point, as he has the athletic skill set to be an impact player, but his all-around game is clearly undeveloped as of now. His ability to track the ball and outplay receivers in the air is unmatched, as evidenced not only by his seven interceptions, but the content of the plays. His athletic ability is such that he is capable of staying with virtually any slot receiver in the league in man coverage situations, and he has some experience with this from college. Ohio State often used him as a single-high free safety, but when he was asked come into the box in run support or in underneath coverage he had significant struggles. Hooker missed 13 tackles on the season while managing just 17 stops.
The article compares him to Oakland Raiders safety Reggie Nelson, who played for Urban Meyer at Florida.
I knew Hooker wasn't an elite tackler, and those numbers still shock me. Still, I think you can chalk that up to him only playing two years of organized football in high school and only starting one year in college.
As Hooker gets stronger and adds the last few pounds onto his frame, I suspect he'll become at least a serviceable tackler. With his ball skills, that's all he'll need to play in the NFL for a long time.
WHAT TO DO WITH BOSA? Nick Bosa recovered from ACL surgery in time to post the best freshman season for an OSU defensive lineman since some guy named Joey Bosa, who may or may not be related.
Even a simpleton could project even more of an impact for young Bosa in 2017. However, he's still behind Tyquan Lewis (still stunned he came back) and Sam Hubbard on the depth chart.
From landgrantholyland.com:
All the key contributors from the defensive line will return in 2017, but it’s hard to imagine that Bosa won’t find his way onto the field more often. Players often mature quickly between their freshman and sophomore seasons, as they have an entire off-season with elite-level coaching and conditioning. It’s rare that a player of Bosa’s talent could potentially not start, but one look at his freshman year production compared to six of Ohio State’s finest defensive linemen during their first season (denoted by a player recording at least 10 tackles in a season) shows just how special Bosa could be.
[...]
Of the six comparables, only Bosa, Johnathan Hankins, Cameron Heyward and Will Smith were able to make a significant impact as a true freshman. While Nick is behind Joey in all three categories, he’s actually ahead of the average stat-line produced by this star-studded pack. Nick’s five sacks are particularly encouraging, as they’re two more than any of the comparables that have a different Mom and Dad than he does.
That's about the best company of 21st century OSU linemen young Bosa could find himself amongst. I still suspect we'll see a lot of the Littler Bear on the inside this year. Jalyn Holmes and Bosa will be a problem for opposing interior linemen.
THAT ONE TIME ON THE FAMILY FARM. The Ohio State tight end legacy video includes a blast from the past: Ben Hartsock.
Thanks to Ramzy on Slack, who pulled this wonderful story in the week before the 2003 championship clash with Miami (FL, obvii). Some might say that miraculous run started that summer 45 minutes south of Columbus on the Hartsock family grain farm.
From sun-sentinel.com in 2003:
After watching the football program splinter into a dysfunctional family of headstrong individuals in coach John Cooper's final years, the Buckeyes sought to repair team chemistry under Tressel. There have been occasional problems still, but players insist Tressel's old-fashioned ideas about family are a significant reason they have righted themselves.
[...]
Tressel used activities outside football to help unite his group. In June, he got the crazy idea that it would be fun to take the entire team to tight end Ben Hartsock's farm, get the players away from football and give them a chance to relate to each other on a different level.
[...]
OK, the hogs weren't that menacing, but you wouldn't have known it by the look on Maurice Clarett's face. Yes, Ohio State's freshman tailback, the tough kid from the mean streets of Youngstown, Ohio, is afraid of something.
"We have pictures of Maurice and some other guys who ran up on hay bales," Hartsock said. "They were frightened they were going to be attacked by these hogs."
Farmers are wild to me. I drove down Ohio route 66 last weekend (shoutout to Houston, Ohio) and the plots of land these people maintain are downright staggering. I have a hard enough time taking care of a small three bedroom, two bathroom house.
Farmers are a special breed, and I now credit that mysticism as the key attribute of Tressel's first and last championship team in Columbus.
THAT'S A LOT OF CARBS. Alabama football raked in more than $100 million this past season (which is why I said earlier this week guys like Nick Saban and Meyer are underpaid, all things considered).
It looks like roughly ~.005% of that was spent on feeding the team.
From al.com:
According to the document Alabama filed with the NCAA, those meals and snacks cost a total of $838,187 (or 0.58 percent of the department's total expenses).
The NCAA document also provided a snapshot of who ran up the highest bill. And it should not be a surprise.
The Crimson Tide football team accounted for 61.2 percent of the money spent on meals.
The total: $512,656.
Fun fact: That number doesn't include money spent on food during road trips.
HERE COME THE COCKS! National CFB pundit Dan Wolken said if Georgia doesn't win the SEC East next year, Kirby Smart is "a clown."
In Smart's defense, he's competing against Will Muschamp. You might say, "Didn't you call Muschamp the poor man's Smart?" I did. But that was before I realized Muschamp could harvest the mana of Waffle House:
When the team thinks they have a tough workout ... but @CoachWMuschamp has a surprise instead! pic.twitter.com/ZG8lpMuMtV
— Gamecock Athletics (@GamecocksOnline) February 24, 2017
Might as well just book that Alabama/South Carolina title fight in Atlanta.
THOSE WMDs. A love letter to the cat men of Kedi... Fun in the Supermax... One man's quest to change the way we die... The darkest town in America... 15-year-old (sorta maybe) basketball prodigy.
