It's Saturday, folks. If you're working, quit to do something fun with somebody special in your life and thank me later.
ICYMI: The women's basketball team lost to Notre Dame in the Sweet 16.
Word of the Day: Mewl.
MONEY IN THE BANK. The good football men made their annual hajj to Columbus on Thursday to observe the latest wave of Buckeye draftees. Marshon Lattimore and Gareon Conley refused to run the 40-yard-dash, which turned out to be a wise decision.
They blew scouts away without it.
From Matt Miller of bleacherreport.com:
Linebacker McMillan went through drills during the workout, and a scout at the event texted me that he looked "smooth, easy-moving, caught the ball well. We like him in Round 2."
Conley and Lattimore stood on their combine numbers, but both went through drills. A coach at the workout texted that Lattimore "is one of the best athletes I've ever seen at corner. He should be a top-five pick."
Said another scout, "these two [corners] could be the first two off the board. They're damn near perfect."
Lattimore is such an athlete his drills popped on grainy iPhone footage taken 100 yards away from the action. Injuries are the only thing that could stop him from being an All-Pro.
It speaks to his talent though that Conley, who came into this year tabbed as a potential first-round pick, is now unjustly overshadowed.
Also good to see McMillan look adroit. He faced questions about his athleticism early in the draft process. Between the combine and pro day, he seems to have put them to rest.
BOOMER INTIMIDATES MILLENNIAL DURING JOB INTERVIEW. McMillan came to Ohio State as a five-star prospect and left as a second-round prospect. He didn't get there by shying away from competition or playing scared.
That doesn't mean a 64-year-old man can't intimidate him. It just depends on how many championships he won.
From masslive.com:
McMillan apparently spent some time with the legendary coach prior to Ohio State's pro day.
"When you first meet him, you're scared," McMillan said, via WBZ. "He's quizzing you. It's like a little test. But after you get done with the test, the quiz or whatever, drawing up the defense, it's pretty cool. They're real down to earth people. Really cool."
Couple this with the private workout, and it seems the Patriots fancy McMillan. It's almost sad how much like destiny this match seems. I'm sure he'd rather land there than Cleveland or Cincinnati, though.
And if it happens, good thing he met the challenge of playing football in the cold years ago and already adapted to it. Not a bad bonus for a championship player who left the SEC footprint for the Big Ten.
SMITH REFUSES TO QUIT. Dontre Wilson and Corey Smith's 40-yard dash times disappointed NFL personnel at Thursday's pro day.
The results refused to dampen Smith's spirit. The former JUCO transfer still feels positive about his chances.
From dispatch.com:
"Honestly, I just feel like my talent and my skill set is anywhere from a first- or second-round type of talent," Smith said. "The team that drafts me or picks me up is basically going to have a steal."
[...]
Cardale Jones, now with Buffalo, was one of several former Buckeyes who watched pro day. He believes both Wilson and Smith can make it.
"You have to be a different kind of athlete and guy to make it through four to five years here," Jones said. "The way they competed when they were injury-free is the type of thing you can see out of guys in the NFL.
I thought Wilson had a better chance at getting picked up than Smith, but after showcasing pedestrian speed, I still feel their best chances are in Canada.
ZEKE CATCHES ANOTHER STRAY. Ezekiel Elliott's partying hasn't earned a headline since Monday, which might be a record for the offseason.
Unfortunately, he still caught a stray bullet from a former Buckeye great. This time it's Cris Carter sounding off.
From totalprosports.com:
“What I’m concerned about with Zeke is the overall lack of respect. Lack of respect for the Cowboys. Lack of respect for the shield. And as we saw on St. Patty’s Day, lack of respect for the young lady that was there. Because that was someone’s daughter, that’s someone’s sister.
“And, to me, publicly showing a lack of respect and lack of conscience of what’s really going on in your like. Now how’s he going to handle being in the National Football League? It gets bigger and bigger, the monster gets bigger and bigger until eventually, if you don’t control the monster and put it on a leash, the monster eats you up.”
[...]
“Will Zeke be able to handle that? That’s the question. It used to be a question of, ‘How good can he be in the NFL?’ ”
Interesting comments considering Carter's transgressions.
MORE BOWL SKIPPING? Notre Dame linebacker Jaylon Smith suffered an injury against Ohio State in the original 2016 Fiesta Bowl. It didn't stop the Dallas Cowboys from drafting him, although Smith didn't play last year.
As it turns out, Smith fortunately had an insurance policy. And according to one lawyer, such policies could lead
From cbssports.com:
Former Notre Dame linebacker Jaylon Smith has become at least the fourth highly-rated player in the last 18 months to collect on his loss of draft value insurance policy, two sources told CBS Sports.
But that is less of a story than the implications of Smith’s payout -- believed to be $700,000. Will the increasing availability of such insurance and seeming frequency of payouts make it more likely that more players will be skipping bowl games?
“What you saw is the tip of the iceberg,” said Bryan Fisher, a Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based attorney who works with college players vetting insurance. “You’re going to see a lot of kids skipping.”
You know what this means, folks: We've only seen the tip of the hot take iceberg. Harrowing.
THOSE WMDs. Artsy-crafty booze is giving Kentucky Rabbis a headache... The Wall Street informant who double-crossed the FBI... The inner-lives of animals... Humans made the banana perfect, but soon it will be gone... Drug testing pilots is "like playing Jenga."
