Despite the wind's best efforts, my house is still standing. But not everyone was so lucky.
2 rescued after tree falls onto building near Ohio State campus https://t.co/eEWaX11aHj #10TV pic.twitter.com/dooPccO8pL
— 10TV.com (@10TV) February 24, 2019
Prayers up for those folks, who will almost certainly be looking for somewhere else to live for the next two months of classes.
ICYMI
- Ohio State's offensive line has more questions than answers heading into spring.
- The men's hockey team and women's track and field team won Big Ten Titles.
- Ohio State basketball team honored black inventors with their shirts.
- Al Washington's importance to in-state recruiting.
- Justin Ahrens shows promise despite Ohio State's loss to Maryland.
- Veteran coaches Greg Mattison and Larry Johnson will be vital for the Buckeyes.
- D'Angelo Russell dropped 40 points on his birthday.
- Players facing make-or-break springs.
- Early forecast for the 2020 class.
Word of the Day: Echt.
BUCKS LEAD THE B1G. It's not really news that Ohio State has the most talent in the Big Ten by far, because it's consistently been that way literally as long as I can remember, but it still seems ridiculous sometimes when it's put into prospective.
Out of DraftAnalyst.com's top 22 Big Ten players in the NFL Draft, nine of them are Buckeyes, including the top player overall and five of the top nine. That's a hilarious embarrassment of riches, it's even more hilarious visualized with a highlight tool, so we'll do that.
From DraftAnalyst.com:
| Round | Grade | Full Name | Pos | School | Yr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1st | 5.50 | Nick Bosa | DE | Ohio State | 3Jr |
| 2 | 1st | 5.11 | Rashan Gary | DE | Michigan | 3Jr |
| 3 | 1st | 4.60 | Dwayne Haskins | QB | Ohio State | 3So |
| 4 | 1st | 4.22 | T.J. Hockenson | TE | Iowa | 3So |
| 5 | 1st | 4.17 | Dre'Mont Jones | DT | Ohio State | 4Jr |
| 6 | 1st/2nd | 4.08M | David Edwards | T | Wisconsin | 4Jr |
| 7 | 1st/2nd | 4.08 | Noah Fant | TE | Iowa | 3Jr |
| 8 | 2nd | 3.84 | Terry McLaurin | WR | Ohio State | 5Sr |
| 9 | 2nd | 3.82 | Kendall Sheffield | CB | Ohio State | 3Jr |
| 10 | 2nd | 3.75 | Devin Bush | ILB | Michigan | 3Jr |
| 11 | 3rd | 3.72 | Zach Gentry | TE | Michigan | 4Jr |
| 12 | 3rd | 3.70 | Anthony Nelson | DE | Iowa | 4Jr |
| 13 | 3rd | 3.69 | Isaiah Prince | T | Ohio State | 4Sr |
| 14 | 3rd | 3.68 | Parris Campbell | WR | Ohio State | 5Sr |
| 15 | 3rd | 3.66 | Derwin Gray | T | Maryland | 5Sr |
| 16 | 3rd | 3.65 | Miles Sanders | RB | Penn State | 3Jr |
| 17 | 3rd | 3.64 | Amani Oruwariye | CB | Penn State | 5Sr |
| 18 | 3rd | 3.63 | Justin Layne | CB | Michigan State | 3Jr |
| 19 | 3rd | 3.63 | Michael Jordan | C | Ohio State | 3Jr |
| 20 | 3rd | 3.63 | Ryan Bates | G | Penn State | 4Jr |
| 21 | 3rd/4th | 3.59 | David Long | CB | Michigan | 3Jr |
| 22 | 4th | 3.55 | Mike Weber | RB | Ohio State | 4Jr |
They also have Malcolm Pridgeon, Johnnie Dixon, Dante Booker and Demetrius Knox as undrafted free agents, who will all almost certainly have a shot to make a team.
My initial takeaway is that while I appreciate the Terry McLaurin love, listing him as a second rounder makes me seriously wonder if they got him and Parris Campbell mixed up, especially with Campbell listed as a third rounder behind Isaiah Prince. That just seems backwards based on every other pre-draft piece I've read so far this year.
I also think Mike Weber is going to be an absolute steal for a team if he slips all the way to the fourth round, which he very well could.
But regardless of all of that, the point is the Buckeyes dominate the Big Ten, and this is a prime visualization of that fact.
HASKINS > 2018 QUARTERBACKS? The #narrative of this draft season is that Dwayne Haskins is just the best of a bad quarterback class, but he's really not worth where he'll be selected. Some scouts have gone as far as to say he's overrated and would have been the fourth quarterback in last year's class.
But not everyone is riding with the current.
Pre-Combine Thought: @dh_simba7 > 2018 QB Class
— Bucky Brooks (@BuckyBrooks) February 23, 2019
Size
Football IQ
Arm Talent
Accuracy
Pocket Passer
Production
Big Game Performance
You can knock the experience (1-year starter) and C- running skills but its hard to poke holes in his game... Classic QB1
C- running skills? I'm sorry, am I missing something? I was led to believe Dwayne Haskins was more of a running quarterback. I even bet my life savings that he would run under a 4.71 at the NFL Combine. Was that a bad bet?
I think it's a fine #take to value Haskins over any quarterback in the 2018 class. I'd still probably take Baker given that he had similar passing numbers and drastically better legs, but we're really going to pretend Sam Darnold, Josh Allen and Josh Rosen are decidedly better prospects than Haskins?
Let's revisit this this in five years.
MORE TERRY MCLAURIN LOVE. I may not believe Terry McLaurin is going to go in the second round, but that doesn't mean I don't believe he should.
A Terry McLaurin swoon Twitter thread appeared on my timeline this week and my self-written Skull Session rules dictate that I must share it with y'all.
I'm not going to embed all of the Tweets, because there are 13 of them and that would get a little obnoxious, so click this one and scroll down to see all the goods.
The Terry McLaurin thread starts now.
— Carter Donnick (@CDonScouting) February 23, 2019
We begin pretty simple.
- Efficient release off the LOS. No false steps.
- Easy speed quickly eats up cushion.
- Uses the slightest of hand tugs to take advantage of his leverage.
- Enormous separation and gone to the races.
He good. pic.twitter.com/ovvoow2J5l
This may shock you, but I was not always a Terry McLaurin lover. There were times last year that I honestly though he was a liability as a receiver. I'm sure a bit of that was my own ignorance, but it's not like everyone else was picking him to go for 700 yards and 11 touchdowns this year either.
I always knew Terry was a fantastic leader, an extremely intelligent guy and a rare blocker, but the dude turned into a legitimately dangerous playmaking receiver almost overnight. I'm not sure I've ever seen a guy improve so drastically in such a short amount of time.
Six months ago I didn't even believe he was going to get drafted, now analysts are grading him as a second rounder. And it's all well deserved.
PUTTING IT TOGETHER. When you make up almost an entire roster of graduate transfer players who've never played together, there are probably going to be some growing pains.
There definitely were for the women's hoops Buckeyes, and it was evident when they lost five-straight games from Dec. 20 to Jan. 5. But it seems like something's clicked, cause they've now won three straight.
The most recent win came against Michigan State, ruining the Spartans 13-game home winning streak.
#StreakCleaners pic.twitter.com/LBHtKQuP3P
— OSU W Basketball (@OhioStateWBB) February 22, 2019
At 13-12, the Buckeyes aren't realistically even near the NCAA Tournament bubble and would probably need a magical run in the Big Ten Tournament to reach the Big Dance at this point, but it's still a solid way to close out the season.
And some history is being made in the process:
There are just 31 players in NCAA history with 1,000 points and 800 assists. @CarmenGrandeP is the newest member of that group. #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/dqp2ynT8dw
— OSU W Basketball (@OhioStateWBB) February 22, 2019
The Buckeyes have two regular season games remaining against Rutgers and Wisconsin and will need to win one of them to clinch at least a .500 record this season.
CAN HE RECLASSIFY? I've been easing my way aboard the D.J. Carton bandwagon, mostly because I don't like betting future Kevin's happiness on a fellow who hasn't even gone to his senior prom, but it's getting harder and harder to limit my excitement.
WATCH- @DJCarton never ceases to amaze me. These 3 plays came in about 30 seconds in the 3rd Qt---- after tweaking his ankle! I'm gonna miss covering this young man next year @BettBball @BettAthletic @u_bett @TheScoreWQAD @OhioStAthletics @OhioStateHoops @Buckeye_Nation pic.twitter.com/I7oPVsnQUT
— Matt Randazzo (@MattRandazzo) February 23, 2019
So, now that his high school regular season is over, is there any way he could reclassify and jump aboard the roster for a late NCAA Tournament push? I don't really care if it uses up a year of his eligibility, I'm not banking on him staying four years anyway.
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