It's Thursday.
Under the new American Worker's Calendar, that means it's Friday. We're evicting all bosses from the kitchen like Blue Elephant chef judging Gordon Ramsay's Pad Thai.
P.S. MarionTMZ says university trustees will extend Urban Meyer's contract this morning. Bold play, if true.
ICYMI:
- Taver Johnson wants to rotate three or more cornerbacks, but the rotation remains undecided.
- Urban Meyer's confidence gives young linebackers added motivation.
- Where Keita Bates-Diop might land in the 2018 NBA Draft.
- Brian Rolle stopped by this week's Dubcast to talk about the evolution of the linebacker position and college defenses.
- Reserve your (or your business’) spot next to the life-size statue of Woody Hayes coming to Newcomerstown!
Word of the Day: Bohemian.
PAIN NOTHING TO OKUDAH. Jeffrey Okudah factored as a major player in 2018 as soon as the 2017 season ended. Unfortunately the Texan underwent should labrum surgery shortly thereafter.
Despite sidelined to individual spring drills, the Texan figures to play a big role this fall.
From dispatch.com:
“It’s definitely been hard, but at the same time I feel sometimes you have to take some steps back in order to go forward,” Okudah said Wednesday. “I had that mentality dealing with this injury.”
He has played through the injury for so long that he’s not sure what to expect when he returns.
“I played with this injury senior year of high school, my junior year of high school and my freshman year at Ohio State,” Okudah said. “I’m kind of interested to see if there will be a change in performance now that I’m getting back to being fully healthy.
“I think it’ll definitely give a lot of confidence. You can go out and play knowing your body feels good.”
Always love when a top underclassmen casually drops a history of playing injured. Consider me "interested" as well in how Okudah performs this season while "fully healthy."
If the cornerbacks are on ice and the linebackers have taken the fabled offseason "leap," it's only a matter of the safety spot opposite Jordan Fuller.
We already know what the defensive line will be about.
HILLIARD READY FOR SECOND CHANCE. Five-star linebacker Justin Hilliard and five-star defensive lineman Jashon Cornell melted our pre-12W servers when they committed within minutes of each other in 2014.
Almost four years later, the duo has yet to make an make an impact befitting the hoopla of their dual commitment.
Cornell moved to defensive end in search of impactful minutes, and Hilliard hopes health will carry him into the rotation this fall.
From The Athletic: ($):
“He came out of high school as the No. 1 linebacker in the country, and as you know, five-star prospects are projected to be high draft choices,” his father Carl told The Athletic. “Everything Ohio State had to offer was very appealing for us, whether it was the football program, the family involvement or the education. It all added up. … But obviously, Justin has had some setbacks he's worked really hard to overcome.”
When you're in the Woody Hayes Center now, you always see Carl around the way Stacy was when Ezekiel was playing. Carl is very involved with Justin's career and has been a general presence at most of the team functions and events. But Carl's presence has been a little different because the “Ezekiel Elliott plan” hasn't gone without hitch.
The "Ezekiel Elliot plan" went out the door early. But life works in mysterious ways. If Hilliard fills the void of Tuf Borland and helps lead the Buckeyes to a national championship, nobody in Columbus will lament the lack of playing time early in his career.
Such is the boon offered to upperclassmen Buckeyes.
GET DUMPED THEN, DULUTH. Gene Smith read your poorly written blogs questioning Ohio State's acceptance of a 2011 TaxSlayer.com bid.
He promptly ripped off ~500 championships. That tear includes the men's hockey team, which is looking to rectify last year's loss to Minnesota-Duluth at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
From collegehockeynews.com:
In the opening round of last year's NCAA tournament, Minnesota-Duluthdispatched Ohio State in overtime en route to a trip to the national title game. Now this year, the Bulldogs are one win away from playing for a national title yet again, and it's Ohio State that stands in the way.
But the Buckeyes aren't just coming to St. Paul just to send the home-state team packing. Steve Rohlik's team comes into this semifinal with more confidence. The butterflies that might have been there last year for Ohio State, when it was making its first trip to the NCAA tournament in eight years, are now gone.
"Last year, we were on the edge, we needed to be the last team in and we hadn't been (to the tournament) in a while as a program, Rohlik said. "Certainly, we knew we were going against one of the best teams in the country at the time. They were definitely the better team, and we were kind of on our heels a little bit and fell behind, but I think as the game went on a second or third period, I thought we played pretty well.
Touché to Minnesota for putting a branch into the Frozen Four. My biggest dream for Ohio is the Ohio State–Marion Scarlet Wave dumping Michigan en route to the Final Four.
To be the man, you have to beat the man. It's a law of nature.
SLADE READY TO MURDER A MAN. Ohio State poached Larry Johnson from Penn State in January 2014. Darius Slade, a three-star prospect from New Jersey, committed a month later.
I thought it would be a match made in heaven. Unfortunately the cookie did not crumble that way. Slade left Columbus in July 2017. After a year on the sidelines, he's looking to throttle a man this year on behalf of the Arizona State Sun Devils.
From azfamily.com:
"He was awesome. Darius was eager to learn,” said Johnson. “He's one of those guys that is like a sponge. Everything you gave him, everything you talked to him about to develop as a player, he would work it. That's the thing that I admire about Darius. He wasn't afraid to work at his skillset to make himself better. I think that's what drives him. He wants to be the best player in the country. He does whatever it takes to do that."
...
"I couldn't be happier. I think about it every day," Slade said. "I wake up, I think about the first game, the excitement we're going to have and the success we're going to have.
"I've sat and watched from the sideline for so long, I can't wait to get my hands on somebody out there."
I'm cheering for Slade to destroy the Pac-12, so I can watch his highlights Sunday morning and say, "See!? That's the power of a Buckeye outside the Big Ten."
WISCONSIN HAS A YOUNG TOM BRADY? I am 31 years old. One of the safest bets of my life is Wisconsin will play a former three-star quarterback prospect with the mobility of a statue.
Never once I have equated Badger QB play with that of Tom Brady. That's not a hard logical leap to make in Madison, though.
From landof10.com:
That approach has served Hornibrook well at Wisconsin. He has become known among teammates for his meticulous eating, workout and study habits. Hornibrook logged a 6,000-calorie diet last offseason and dropped his body fat by nearly 6 percent. He constantly strives for improvement, even as he owns a 20-3 record as a starter. His .870 winning percentage represents the best by a quarterback in school history. But Hornibrook recognizes there is so much more to achieve.
“He prepares like a pro,” Badgers running back Chris James said. “I think I’m definitely starting to see that. We all kind of crack jokes. He has this Tom Brady mindset, and he wears his little ‘TB12’ hat. We always make fun of him, but it works.
I too love to gas my friends to unachievable heights. "Don't mind my friend, Chris. He loves wearing military uniforms, huffing duster, and claiming Rutgers will roast Ohio State this fall."
Hahahhaha, We just let Chris cook.
THOSE WMDs. Queen of Infamy: Eleanor of Aquitaine... Lies, damn lies, and the 450 acres of prime real estate that is Burke Lakefront Airport... In search of warriors... DEA agent details El Chapo's capture... Dog fights and sex parties: The man who photographs Istanbul after dark.
