Used to have a lot of opinions as a Browns fan on draft night. After celebrating the selection of Johnny Football like a clown, I admit to knowing nothing. Now I enter the arena expecting a lion to rip my jugular out. Anything less than that will be considered the first Super Bowl victory of my life.
The Browns go on the clock in Philadelphia at 8 p.m. on ESPN. Urban Meyer and Marshon Lattimore will attend.
ICYMI:
- Gareon Conley issued a statement on rape allegations, said "several" witnesses and video evidence will vindicate him.
- Conley could become the latest top prospect to see his stock sunk by off-field allegations hours before the draft.
- Sevyn Banks, a four-star 2018 cornerback from Orlando, committed to Ohio State.
- The impact of Banks' commitment to the local team.
- Darius Bazley, a 2018 four-star small forward from Cincinnati, decommitted from Ohio State.
- Four-star 2017 guard Mark Smith, Thad Matta's top remaining target, committed to Illinois.
- Fisher students: Check out the 11W marketing internship.
- Help put a life-size statue of Woody Hayes in his hometown of Newcomerstown, Ohio.
Word of the Day: Abattoir.
KING OF CASTLE GETS PAID. Here's something you will hear tonight on the NFL Draft broadcast: Malik Hooker used to sit the bench at Ohio State before it switched.
But what makes Hooker special is that he only played football two years in high school. He was good enough to earn a free college education with basketball, but his professional ceiling was only as tall as his 6-2 frame.
Athleticism doesn't always translate across sports, either. In fact, there was a time when Hooker's high school coach had to pitch college coaches on the blank canvas of potential.
From wkbn.com:
“I always told Malik, 6’2″, 200 pounds, that’s minus minus in the NBA. I said as a defensive back in Division I football or the NFL, that’s plus plus because of how long he was and how athletic he was,” Cowart said.
Convincing Hooker to play was part of the plan. Convincing college scouts that he could play was the other.
“I have this young man who is an all-state basketball player as a sophomore. He’s going to be 6’1″, 185 pounds, runs like a deer. I said, ‘He may stink at football, I don’t know, but like a roller coaster ride, he meets the height and weight requirement to go play big time football,'” Cowart said.
Props to Luke Fickell for spotting him, and props to Urban Meyer for bending his ears and opening his eyes during a midlevel Pennsylvania high school basketball game.
The cantankerous troll wing of Michigan fans thinks Meyer "doesn't watch film" and "recruits off lists." I understand occasionally warping reality to assuage cognitive dissonance. It's idiocy to ignore Hooker, Pat Elflein, Darron Lee, etc. (And just wait until they get a look at linebacker Malik Harrison.)
Meyer says recruiting rankings matter. Not every three-star is a future star like some fans like to think.
ELFLEIN ON BUCKEYE BABY FAT. We mentioned Pat Elflein's body transformation back in February. It's the same touchup offensive line guru LeCharles Bentley put on Taylor Decker last draft cycle.
Why were they unable to hit a level like that under noted strength sensei Mickey Marotti? Because, despite coaching salaries, palatial football facilities, and record television contracts, they're still unpaid athletes in school.
Elflein recently elaborated.
From 247sports.com:
"It’s a little tougher when you’re here. When I’m out in Arizona training, that’s all I do," Elflein explained. "I make sure every meal I put in my body is the right meal and I go to the gym and I workout as hard as I can. That’s my day.
"Here you’ve got school, you’ve got tutoring, not that practice is anything bad, but you’ve just got so many things to worry about, where and when you’re training, I workout and I eat really well and that’s my only job. So that’s why you can just focus more on it and it helps.
"There’s 30 NFL veterans in there, so just picking those guys brains is incredible. I don’t think there’s another place in the country like it. Everything is tailored towards offensive lineman. So it’s perfect."
This is why so many wives look at their chunky monkey husbands and wonder what happened to the svelte man she dated in college. It's a lot easier to take care of your body when Life's Demands aren't chiseling away at every waking moment and/or you don't have kids.
SAVING SHON'S STRINGS. Marshon Lattimore will likely be the first cornerback drafted in tonight's draft. He came to Ohio State with an impressive recruiting pedigree before his hamstrings wrecked his first two seasons.
With the defensive assembly line rolling right onto NFL teams these days, Meyer knew he needed the depth provided by salvaging Lattimore's muscles. He tasked everyone from medical staff to interns.
From dispatch.com:
“We had a systematic plan for him,” said Mickey Marotti, Ohio State’s assistant athletic director for football sports performance. “It was pretty in-depth.”
Head trainer Shaun Barnhouse and physical therapist Adam Stewart led the effort. Ohio State used a sensor to monitor how his glute muscles responded to drills. One intern’s responsibility was to get continuous, instantaneous reports during practice.
“He would stand there with his cellphone and get readouts,” Marotti said. “He actually got ripped at practice one time because coach (Urban Meyer) thought he had his phone out. He started yelling, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ I said, ‘Coach, he’s monitoring Marshon.’ ”
Marotti bought a “posterior change strengthening” device that cost about $3,000, strictly for Lattimore.
Lattimore and Hooker represent the one saving grace of the bloated broadcast that is the draft. The human element of watching these guys and their families realize their lifelong dreams can't be ruined by pony show antics.
Let's hope Lattimore's body holds up so he can get that lucrative second NFL contract.
ALL SHIPS TO COLUMBUS. The NCAA women's tournament and other collegiate championships will be held in Columbus in the coming years. In the past, big-time events considered Columbus too podunk for such regal affairs. It switched over the years due to a targeted strategy by state sachems as well as the city's burgeoning economic profile.
From radio.wosu.org:
A big part of Columbus' strategy was to collaborate with all of its sports divisions for bids: Ohio State University and Ohio University for Division 1, Ohio Dominican for Division 2 and Capital University for Division 3. All four schools will host games as part of the championship events.
Part of what makes Columbus attractive for sporting events, [executive director of the Greater Columbus Sports Commission Lauren] Logan says, is its infrastructure.
"When you think about the fact that we were able to host the NHL All-Star game just two years ago, the fact that the women's Final Four is coming here next year, both of those events would not have been coming here had we not added more hotels, more daily flights," Logan says.
The only reason I care about this is because it helps Ohio State on the recruiting trail. Otherwise, people still asleep on Columbus can continue to lie about enjoying life on the coasts.
HARBAUGH! Jim Harbaugh tricked a Michigan booster into an all-expenses-paid trip so he could troll Notre Dame by giving the Pope an outrageous new hat.
His Holiness presents the pope with a Michigan football helmet. pic.twitter.com/oZLi8pagQw
— Scott Bell (@sbell021) April 26, 2017
On shaking hands with the Pope, Harbaugh reportedly said, "This is what it would be like to meet Jesus Christ."
Quite the Messiah complex on a guy who is 0-2 against Ohio State.
THOSE WMDs. British cops will scan every fan's face at the Champion's League final... Someone in D.C. is freelancing anti-homeless bench blockers... Pat Riley's final test... Viet Thanh Nguyen reveals how writers’ workshops can be hostile... The greatest fake-art scam in history?
