Nothing marks the end of the offseason like the creepy hotel check-in picture day, and I'm honoring the occasion with Mr. McCullough's first shirt-ception shirt in the Skully Banner.
We'll have ourselves a new one today, and Lord willing, young Roen will carry the torch once Liam sadly departs from us after this season. I don't know what the hell we're going to do after that, but we'll cross that bridge in another five years.
ICYMI (buckle up)
- Carmen's Crew is through to the TBT finals.
- Justin Fields says he's "way better" than he was in spring.
- Urban Meyer retained Zach Smith amid work concerns.
- Fascinating things we learned from Meyer and Smith's texts.
- Top programs, including Bama, tried to poach Buckeyes coaches.
- Gunnar Hoak just wanted to be a Buckeye.
- The Bucks will wear black against Michigan State.
- Bijan Robinson commits to Texas.
- Predicting offensive numbers.
- Opening day practice observations.
- Ryan Day recaps Ohio State's first practice.
- Marotti announces offseason awards.
- Keandre Jones will play the Buckeyes this year.
- Pat Klein steps down amid potential women's hoops violations.
- Cleveland Browns sign Tracy Sprinkle.
- Andrew Ellis talks folks off the ledge.
Word of the Day: Lacuna.
MAKES YOU THINK. Folks, it looks like dual-threat quarterbacks are true kings of college football – the best ones, anyway.
Good research by @BladeMcNeish. The No. 1 dual-threat QB recruits from 2006-2017: 5 All-Americans, 3 Heisman winners, 9 Heisman finalists. The No. 1 pro-style QB recruits from 2006-2017: 1 All-American, 0 Heisman winners, 0 Heisman finalists.
— Kyle Rowland (@KyleRowland) August 4, 2019
Full disclosure: there's no way "9 Heisman finalists" is true, because that would mean that only two of the dual threat quarterbacks during that span weren't Heisman finalists, and that's not at all the case.
However, all the other ones check out, and a quick scroll of the recent Heisman Trophy finalists and All-Americans is uh... convincing.
Needless to say, forgive me for being just a bit excited that Ohio State has a quarterback with tree trunks for legs that runs a 4.43 second 40-yard dash, who also happens to be No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in his class.
Justin Fields is going to run the ball 150 times this year and it's going to be absolutely awesome.
SOONER THAN LATER, PLZ. For some reason, coaches never seem in much of a hurry to name a starting quarterback even though pretty much everyone who's ever been involved in a quarterback competition wishes the decision had been made earlier.
From Joey Kaufman of the Columbus Dispatch:
Jones wishes coach Urban Meyer and his assistants had named a starting quarterback at least a couple of weeks before the season opener, then stuck with him.
“Even if I was the backup,” Jones said.
...
Four former Ohio State starting quarterbacks offered their perspectives in interviews over the past week.
The quartet held a consensus that Day would be well-served to name a starter soon. His desire to choose the successor for Dwayne Haskins Jr. by the end of training camp was right.
“You want to have that leader set in stone, someone that these guys can look upon and trust,” said Todd Boeckman, who got the nod in 2007.
“There is a different confidence knowing I’m the guy,” said Justin Zwick, who began 2004 as the starter.
“Once you know you’re the starter, as a leader, you can act a certain way,” said Bobby Hoying, who took the reins for the first time in 1993.
This all makes complete sense to me, and it's why I was extremely confused when Ryan Day said there was no real benefit to naming a starter sooner than later.
I don't think this situation is too dire, because let's be honest, everyone involved in this process knows who the starter is going to be anyway, barring something insane, but it still feels like it would be beneficial to make it a formality.
Regardless, however Day handles it, I'm sure it will be better than the situation in 2015 when *I* found out Cardale Jones was the starting quarterback before Cardale Jones found out he was the starting quarterback.
PUT HIM IN THE HALL. The NFL Hall of Fame is expanding its class to 20 honorees next year – five modern-era candidates, 10 senior nominees, three contributors and two coaches – as part of the NFL's 100th season celebration with the breakdown.
And there's a solid chance another Buckeye gets inducted.
Jim Reineking of USA TODAY has Buckeye great Randy Gradishar among the contenders for one of those spots.
Randy Gradishar, LB
Anchor of the Denver Broncos' "Orange Crush" defense, Gradishar helped the team reach its first Super Bowl in the 1977 season and the next season he was named the NFL's defensive player of the year. A seven-time Pro Bowl selection, Gradishar has only been a Hall finalist twice, most recently in 2008.
The Buckeyes currently have the third-most players in the Hall of Fame behind Notre Dame and USC. But I think there's a solid chance that gap could close in the near future.
But my mid-life crisis will come the moment a player I went to school with gets inducted. Granted, I can't complain too much. I never planned to even make it to 25, so any life I have now is just bonus time.
DISILLUSIONMENT IS BACK! Michigan's (alleged) move a spread offense has got to be one of the most unbearable things to happen this offseason. They run one play out of an empty set after half a decade in 21 personnel and they think they're the new basketball on grass.
Example:
#Michigan four-star RB commit Blake Corum on the 2020 offensive players coming to Ann Arbor and to play in @Coach_Gattis offense: I think we have potential to be the No. 1 offense in the nation. pic.twitter.com/lxC0IiGRkF
— Brice Marich (@BriceMarich) August 4, 2019
Ah yes, that star-studded offensive recruiting class that has *checks notes* two skill players rated in the top 270 with more players outside the top 400 than inside it, all playing for a coordinator who's never actually coordinated an offense by himself before.
I have no doubts Michigan's offense will be better under Gattis – mostly because it can't get any worse than forcing the ball to Karan Higdon in the I-formation 25 times a game – but let's pump the brakes on "best offense in the country."
Let's take this a step further: I'd bet my job that Michigan won't have a better offense than Ohio State at any point in the next four years.
LOOK OUT, RYAN DAY. I've been a noted and well-documented Ryan Day stan for years, but even I'm beginning to think Ohio State may have hired the wrong guy.
ok I found one (1) good email in the Ohio State doc dump pic.twitter.com/giE2jcMkHm
— RichardJohnson (@RJ_Writes) August 2, 2019
Maybe it was a bad idea to just promote internally without doing a nation-wide search because we clearly missed out on this legend.
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