Thank you to the servicemen and women who paid the ultimate price in keeping America free. It's a debt that will never be repaid.
What else can be said?
Programming notes:
- The lacrosse team plays Maryland in a national title rematch of the Big Ten championship game at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN2 in Foxboro, Mass.
- Women's tennis doubles players Francesca Di Lorenzo and Miho Kawase will play for the first national championship in program history at 1 p.m. Stream available at NCAA.com.
ICYMI:
- The new early signing period could make Ohio State accelerate its recruiting calendar.
- Remember when Jim Tressel resigned and everyone acted like they got shot?
- Local team's trips to Iowa and Nebraska: Easier typed than won.
- Help put a life-size statue of Woody Hayes in his hometown of Newcomerstown, Ohio.
Word of the Day: Dirge.
THE WILSON WAY. Urban Meyer can cycle offensive coordinators and still lead the Big Ten in offense because his philosophy leads the way.
Kevin Wilson is a different breed of offensive coordinator, though. A spread godfather and a head coach as of last year, there was never a question about Wilson installing wrinkles into Meyer's offensive blueprint.
One such seizure of eminent domain is in the passing game, where receivers will not only be asked to defensive ends along with cornerbacks.
From theozone.net:
"When Coach Wilson came in, he said that at receiver you’re not beating the corner necessarily, but you’re defeating a defensive end that our left tackle has to block on a pass play," explained quarterback J.T. Barrett. "You’ve got to beat the defensive end. So you’ve got to get open in order for us to get you the ball. If it takes forever for you to get open, we can’t get you the ball because we didn’t beat the defensive end."
The definition of "open" is open to interpretation and gets clouded more and more every day with the popularity of the back-shoulder throws. How much a receiver needs to be open also depends on the accuracy of the quarterback throwing the ball. The more accurate the quarterback, the smaller the windows need to be. And sometimes, there won't be any windows at all and a quarterback just has to trust his receivers a little bit longer.
"Me, I think something that always can help is that when it comes to passing, making sure the receivers do enough to get open, then help them when they get open," Barrett said. "That’s the yards after the catch, so get better at that aspect of my game, and that’s accuracy. Then timing, I think last year there were certain things that we weren’t on time, whether it be me or the receiver, and then there were times where I wasn’t holding onto the ball and giving them a chance to make plays."
The lack of a deep ball was well publicized last year. Ohio State's passing game also lacked intricacy in the short and medium range.
And it's easier to talk in the spring than perform in the fall, but I'm running out of reasons why I shouldn't expect Wilson to orchestrate 75 points a game.
DRAFT THOMAS IN COMPUTER FOOTBALL. Once upon a time, fans viewed Michael Thomas as a talented albeit petulant prospect more than likely condemned to spring game all-star status.
That was until he turned a second-round draft selection into a campaign worthy of rookie of the year.
Thomas, never a guy accused of being soft-spoken, isn't satisfied.
From espn.com:
But he already has one part of the formula down. Thomas (6-foot-3) said he is up to about 220 pounds after adding 10 pounds of muscle to an already-physical frame.
He's also working on the "better" part. Thomas said he is intent on making that same Year 2 leap that most NFL sophomores talk about.
"I mean, I want to be one of the best to ever play the game, so I put a lot of pressure on myself," said Thomas, who is also embracing the role of No. 1 receiver in New Orleans after the Saints traded away Brandin Cooks this offseason.
I feel bad for Ohio State fans who lacked the confidence to "reach" for Thomas last year in computer football drafts. A technician like Thomas landing on turf with a quarterback like Drew Brees? The writing was in the stars.
COME AGAIN? One bad thing about paying attention to news is the periodic roiling of your stomach.
From cnn.com:
The Air Force has launched an investigation into allegations a mortuary employee at Dover Air Force Base offered to show Sen. John Glenn's remains to Defense Department inspectors as his body was awaiting burial.
There is no indication the inspectors viewed the body, an Air Force official told CNN. But a key question is whether others were also told they could view Glenn's remains, one military official said.
The Glenn family has been notified about the incident, which was first reported in the publication Military Times.
I mess up tweets and don't feel like coming to work for three weeks. I can only imagine how a mortuary employee feels about making headlines through their garish handling of the remains of one of our country's greatest patriots.
I FEEL OLD NOW Y'ALL. As a wise Old Millennial (redundant, I know), I remember when Greg Schiano coached Rutgers and James Gandolfini starred as Tony Soprano, the psychopathic crime lord America loved to know.
Yet somehow watching this Rutgers ad from that era pushed me a decade closer to my grave.
From r/cfb:
Typical Rutgers buffoonery. The true ad happened when Schiano and Gandolfini made smalltalk at that tiny table before the cameras rolled.
What common ground did they try to strike out with each other? What is a joke that makes Schiano and Gandolfini laugh? Where are the bodies burried on Rutgers' campus?
Instead we got an ad that aged as well as an AOL Internet CD.
SAM HUBBARD: GOOD AT LACROSSE TOO? What's wild about writing about the local team six days a week, 51 weeks a year is the nuggets of information picked up along the seemingly preordained path.
Starcat woke me up at 4 a.m. Sunday by kneading my pillow while purring. It's her default hustle of trying to be cute while manipulating me into feeding her two hours before food time.
"Not today, Starcat" I said. I raised my hand to brush her off my bed without committing a felony.
"Did you know Sam Hubbard used to play lacrosse?"
The revelation hit me like a bag of hot nickels across my dentures.
"I don't believe you," I instinctually replied. (Marionaires are a lamentably shifty people.)
"It's true," she said with as much interest as I take in looking at my stomach in the mirror.
Sam Hubbard... an Irish lacrosse commit?
Numerous Googles and a fact-finding mission into the Cincinnati hinterlands revealed it to be true. My pilgrimage unearthed a never-before-seen Hubbard lacrosse highlight reel:
Ohio State is an prestigious school without a lacrosse title. Today presents a rare opportunity to strike a blow against East Coast elitism. All hustles must be hit for the glory of Ohio.
My championship advice: The worst lacrosse player should give his jersey to Hubbard.
LOS LINKS. London property squeeze... Hitchhiker shot in the pursuit of kindness... Colombia's guerrillas out of the jungle... Walt Mossberg's final column... A night of terror in Gatlinburg, Tennessee... When your child is a psychopath... Study finds Colorado lives longest.
