Buckle up for another week on the intergalactic prison colony. May Warren G. Harding have mercy on our toils.
ICYMI:
- USA TODAY: Ohio State No. 1 in education and football.
- Video: A slimmed-down Sean Nuernberger nails a 60-yard field goal.
- Buckeyes must replace a kicker, punter, and holder this fall.
- Ranking 50-yard+ touchdowns of the Urban Meyer era.
- Chris Holtmann making his presence felt in first month on new job.
- Help put a life-size statue of Woody Hayes in his hometown of Newcomerstown, Ohio.
Word of the Day: Palaver.
MEYER LEARNS FROM PAST EXPERIMENTS. As Bill Connelly of sbnation.com pointed out last week in his sterling Ohio State preview, eight percent of FBS head coaches coached under Meyer. The man can pick a pony.
Normally Meyer's profile is a young and hungry assistant that can give him two good years. Lately, Meyer has rolled with older assistants who were previously head coaches, as with Greg Schiano and Kevin Wilson.
Schiano and Meyer went way back, though. With Wilson, Meyer took a flier based on past experiences with former Iowa State head coach Dan McCarney at Florida.
From Tim May of The Columbus Dispatch:
“We needed a little bit of an impact, some freshness in our offense and he certainly has brought it,” Meyer said of Wilson. “But I don’t know that I would have done it without the other two trials, Dan McCarney and Greg Schiano. I’ve never really wanted a dictatorship; I’ve never believed in that. I believe it’s a team. For example, we have a highly paid staff, but there’s not much disparity between top to bottom. I think otherwise it creates chemistry issues amongst your staff.”
Wilson said he bought in from the start. Stepping down in rank means “there’s actually less on my plate now. It’s like I’m starting over, coaching the offense or coaching a position,” he said.
“It’s not like we came in here to change things. We came in and said there are a lot of things we’re doing well, and from there you grow. The hard part has been trying to get myself up to speed (with the nuances of the system), to be the best I can be. We’re going to have a great team, and I’ve got to do the best job I can.”
What's crazy is it's not like Schiano or Wilson are over-the-hill, either. They would both be coaching other schools if circumstances were different.
Also not sure the hype for the offense can get any higher at this point.
CRAFT BACK IN STATES. Aaron Craft, at one time, was the undisputed #content king of Ohio State athletics. Though he still has appeared in such offseason classics as "Aaron Craft Named 2015 D-League Defensive Player of the Year" (4.4K likes and shares on FB), the Craft #content train faded a bit in recent years as he moved overseas.
Craft is back in the states this summer, though. And he's playing on an Ohio State-loaded team in The Basketball Tournament, a high-stakes five-on-five tournament.
From si.com:
The work didn't stop after Craft's highly decorated four-year career with the Buckeyes. When he left the Ohio State his aggressive style transitioned to the next level, where he won Defensive Player of the Year with the D-League’s Santa Cruz Warriors before taking his game overseas and playing in Hungary and Italy for the past four years.
"The last few years we’ve played overseas, my wife and I have gone over,” Craft said. “There’s a lot of positives. Obviously, I’m still playing basketball, making a living doing that, we’re getting to travel and we have a lot more free time to do those types of things, so that part’s great."
When Craft isn’t playing basketball in another country, he’s back in Columbus, Ohio. Several former players still call the city their home base and play together during their off-seasons. He faces off with former teammates there, including David Lighty, Jon Diebler and Greg Oden.
Craft's team tips off Saturday, July 15th at 3:15 p.m. ET. It will be available on ESPN WATCH.
GET THE MAN A POCKET. J.T. Barrett was far from perfect in 2015, even if he wasn't nearly as bad as some fans tried to say.
One thing is clear; however, give the man a clean pocket and he will destroy the enemy.
From Pro Football Focus:
This is why I say the offense will be fine if they solidify the right side of the line, even if Barrett doesn't make a massive leap in talent.
THE MILLENNIAL QUESTION (AGAIN). Revenues for schools are at an all-time high thanks to record television contracts.
Despite that, stadium attendance continues to dwindle and programs continue searching for ways to draw the #youth back into the stadium.
From Kevin Stankiewicz of post-gazette.com:
While Power Five conferences boasted record revenue in 2016 — more than double the totals in 2012, thanks in large part to huge television contracts — filling stadiums remains important because ticket sales are still a significant source of revenue. And attending football games, experts say, is critical in maintaining another lifeblood of athletic departments: donations. Ticket sales and donations account for 41 percent of total revenue at Football Bowl Subdivision schools in 2014, according to a 2015 NCAA report.
Factor in a predicted decline in future television revenue, and the downward attendance trend is even more problematic.
Athletic departments are trying to target young fans like [21-year-old Pitt student Andrew] Bukowski to combat the issue. Pitt recently joined several programs in offering a discounted football ticket program for recent graduates. Unveiled in May, it offers graduates 30 percent off season tickets within three years of leaving school.
That rowdy-ass genie ain't getting back in the bottle, friends. Ticket prices are at an all-time high, and that's before figuring in all other expenses inherent in attending a football game.
The smaller affairs usually don't bring the atmosphere to make a ticket worth it, either.
But hey, maybe serviceable wifi so we can all take selfies is the cure-all elixir.
TYQUAN LEWIS: STILL GOOD. Between Sam Hubbard and Nick Bosa, Tyquan Lewis may be the most underrated defensive end on the team. Which is ironic considering he's the eldest.
Don't sleep on Lewis. He may not have the pedigree of Bosa or Hubbard, but he will be a second-day pick next spring.
From cfbfilmroom.com:
Tyquan Lewis might not be the most physically gifted pass-rusher in terms of his raw athleticism, but he makes up for it with a balanced skill set. While he has enough speed to win off the edge in certain matchups, he also has the strength to drive his opponent into the backfield.
[...]
There is a ceiling to what Tyquan Lewis can become due to his somewhat modest physical skills, but his game is polished for a young lineman which should allow him to make a smooth transition to the NFL. He will likely be one of the prospects to benefit from the “NFL ready” label next spring.
At this stage of his development, Lewis looks like a Day 2 prospect, but he could elevate his stock by improving his functional strength and/or quickness on the field. If Lewis proves that there is untapped potential in his physical tools, he could rise up draft boards during the 2017 season.
Between the talent on the defensive line and the expected development of the secondary, Lewis should have ample opportunity to show on tape why he should go higher than Day 2.
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