At this time every year, teens trying to check into a hotel are met by hordes of poorly dressed males with cameras and camcorders, and I have a near existential crisis as I harvest the photos and put them online for your viewing enjoyment.
This year though, I felt nothing but sadness as I realized that Ohio State's indefinite media hiatus could put our favorite creepy as hell tradition in jeopardy.
But I was foolish – not even the biggest Buckeye news of the past seven years is enough thwart the Interwebs from glimpsing Liam McCullough's inception shirt in all its glory.
Ohio State long snapper Liam McCullough continues the camp check-in inception: pic.twitter.com/Zq0iOyZmrE
— Andrew Lind (@AndrewMLind) August 6, 2018
Blessed.
ICYMI:
- Powell Chief of Police says Zach Smith was never arrested in 2015 and explains why there were discrepancies between two versions of offense reports.
- The biggest questions left to answer as Ohio State's Urban Meyer investigation continues.
- Urban Meyer supporters rally outside of Ohio Stadium.
- Ohio State is taking steps to lighten the mood inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
- If Urban Meyer isn't back at Ohio State, here's how the offense might change under Ryan Day.
- Photos from Ohio State's 2018 camp check-in.
Word of the Day: Portent.
NICK BOSA THE BEST BY FAR. College football is absolutely loaded with elite defensive linemen this year, but according to Pro Football Focus, Nick Bosa separates himself from the pack, particularly as a pass rusher.
Nick Bosa is the best defensive lineman in college football. Period. Quite frankly, it’s not even close.
The college football landscape is loaded with talent along the defensive line this season, but on a play-for-play basis, Bosa stands in a league of his own.
...
The fact of the matter is, we at PFF track how often defensive linemen beat the offensive lineman in front of them. Whether that ends up in a sack, hit, hurry or nothing else, is more a factor of the offensive play call than anything the defender can control. Last season, Bosa won 28.0 percent of his pass-rushes. The next best number among all returning Power 5 defensive linemen was Anthony Nelson of Iowa at 22.9 percent.
With Tyquan Lewis, Sam Hubbard and Jalyn Holmes now in the NFL, Bosa's probably going to see a heavier workload this fall. There's a chance that means a slight drop in production on a play-for-play basis.
On the other hand, Bosa should be even better this season with another year of training and conditioning under his belt, and he seemed eager for more playing time last year as rotations kept each rushmen's snapcount relatively low.
It's time to let the bull out of the pen.
ESPN PUTS THREE BUCKEYES IN TOP 50. ESPN put out a list of the top-50 players in college football as we head into the 2018 season, and three Buckeyes made the cut – Nick Bosa, J.K. Dobbins and Dwayne Haskins.
Here's what ESPN had to say about each of the selections:
No. 6 Nick Bosa:
The younger Bosa's first two seasons have been a step ahead of the trajectory his All-American brother, Joey, took before getting drafted in the first round after three years at Ohio State. That bodes well as Bosa heads into a junior year where he'll be the top pass-rusher on a reloaded defensive line. Bosa's balance, technique, speed and tendency to never give up on a play make him nearly impossible to stop.
No. 23 J.K. Dobbins:
Ohio State fans want to see more of Dobbins, who last fall averaged 7.2 yards a carry and 100.2 yards per game despite only 13.9 carries per game. Mike Weber is still in Columbus, but Dobbins should move into more of a featured role. He had a team-high 16 plays from scrimmage of 20 yards or longer last season.
No. 32 Dwayne Haskins:
J.T. Barrett's 50-game run in Columbus is over, and the Haskins era begins this fall. Haskins impressed in relief of Barrett last year at Michigan Stadium, rallying the Buckeyes past their archrival. The strong-armed sophomore steps into the featured role for an offense loaded with options at the skill positions.
This is not a bad list, all things considered. Past about No. 15, I feel like you could probably just put 75 names in a hat and randomly draw the 35 and it would be fine and relatively uncontroversial. Some folks would be upset, others would say it's perfect, just like this list.
In my opinion, the most egregious snub from the local team is Dre'Mont Jones, who I firmly believe will be a first-round pick by the end of the year. But there are a few other guys – Parris Campbell, Isaiah Prince and Chase Young – who might belong on this list come January.
PARRIS CAMPBELL SLIGHTED? A couple of months ago, NFL.com published a list of the fastest players in college football, naming Ohio State's Kendall Sheffield the nation's fastest player.
No qualms there – seems legit. Dude broke an Ohio State track record like three months before that list came out, so it's hard to fault the choice. We agreed, and my late father even wrote about it in the Skull Session.
Turns out, there might be a glaring issue with the list. It's not that Sheffield is atop it, but that Parris Campbell didn't even appear.
Hold on... who came up with this?? Yall better stop playing man.. https://t.co/wpuPio0zAP
— Parris Campbell (@PCampbell21) June 11, 2018
#Zone6s @PCampbell21 strongly feels that he needs to be on everyones list for Fastest Player in College Football.
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) June 12, 2018
Will we see a race between him and Kendall Sheffield #TuneInNextTimeOnDragonBallZ #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/YOssSXI6K3
Almost two months later, Campbell hasn't let it go. He showed up to camp wearing a shirt with the @NFL Tweet screen printed across the front.
Parris Campbell took a screen shot of the https://t.co/vJhTYBygwE tweet about the fastest players in college football, that he wasnt on, and put it on a shirt pic.twitter.com/pE4flSI1Vz
— Bill Landis (@BillLandis25) August 6, 2018
Looks like he thinks he has something to prove this season. God help the poor defensive backs chasing him down the sideline this year.
TYQUAN LEWIS MOVING INSIDE. Regardless of their listed position, Ohio State's defensive linemen play all over the place – inside, outside, weakside and strong side.
A few examples – Tyquan Lewis, Nick Bosa, Jalyn Holmes both played inside fairly regularly, Joey Bosa played inside from time to time, Adolphus Washington, Jashon Cornell and Dre'Mont Jones transitioned from defensive ends to tackles and then Cornell moved back out this year.
That's good news as these guys head to the NFL, because they're ready to play wherever their coaches decide to throw them – just like Lewis with the Colts, who was listed as a defensive tackle on the team's first depth chart release.
From StampedeBlue.com
Tyquan Lewis being listed as the backup defensive tackle to Denico Autry has me intrigued. Lewis isn’t really the trademark size for the position at only 269 pounds but he has potential as a pass rusher from that spot. At Ohio State, Lewis lined up all across the defensive line even as a nose tackle in some packages. Even with moving around as much as he did, Lewis was able to accumulate 23.5 sacks in his four year college career.
I think that this move has a lot of potential to be great as a sub package pass rush look. Lewis measured as one of the most explosive edge rushers at the combine so moving that speed and burst inside on passing downs could cause nightmares for opposing guards.
Lewis is a monster, and showed it on the field as a three-year starter for Ohio State. It probably doesn't matter where the Colts put him, he'll punish opposing quarterbacks just as he did for the Buckeyes.
TBT DYNASTY. I've been paying attention to The Basketball Tournament ever since a group of Ohio State alums began putting a team together, and it's been tons of fun to watch the games and look at the rosters full of former college and NBA players I've since forgotten about.
But the most fascinating thing to me has always been that despite the talent and big names throughout the tournament, one team wins every damn year, and I haven't even heard of a single player on the roster.
From Deadspin.com
While Overseas Elite entered this year’s tournament as three-time reigning champions, with a 19-0 record and a combined $5 million in the bank, they weren’t quite a Warriors-grade dominant force. They have endured a few close calls during their run—Overseas Elite only won its title games by two, five, and three points—and there were numerous other teams whose rosters featured higher-wattage former college stars and recent NBA veterans. Overseas Elite’s roster, on the other hand, was built around a core that includes McCollum, a guard who played at Goshen College, an NAIA Division II school; forward D.J. Kennedy, guard Paris Horne, and forward Justin Burrell, all former teammates at St. John’s; former University of Arizona guard Kyle Fogg; ex-Iowa State guard DeAndre Kane; former Saint Joseph’s center Todd O’Brien; and former South Carolina center Johndre Jefferson.
None of them were unanimous All-Americans. Not one of them was even drafted by a NBA team; Kennedy, who appeared in two games with the Cleveland Cavaliers in April 2012, is the only one with any NBA experience. That lack of star power caused opponents to sometimes underestimate Overseas Elite. “I hear it every year,” McCollum said. “Guys tell me, ‘Oh, we’re going to beat you. We’re matching up a team for you.’”
It doesn't make sense that this team is so good, but they've never lost a game in four tournaments, going 25-0 all-time and collecting a total of $7 million in winnings.
This could be there last run, though, because at least two of the team's core players don't plan to play next summer and the rest of the team is noncommittal as of now.
Maybe that leaves room for The Scarlet & Gray to make a run next year.
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