If you aren't following my good pal Dan Hope on Twitter, you're going to want to go ahead and do that.
Dan goes in absolute cyborg mode for the NFL Combine and NFL Draft. Honest to God, nobody is even in his galaxy when it comes to Ohio State coverage of those two events. I've witnessed it in person, the dude doesn't sleep. We're talking 3 a.m. down, 7:00 a.m. rise.
As you're reading this, there's a solid chance Dan's already grinding. So tune in, cause he's going to make sure you don't miss a damn thing.
Song of the Day: "Just Like Heaven" by The Cure.
Word of the Day: Slipshod.
SAVING HIMSELF. If you were anxiously awaiting watching Chase Young move athletically in spandex, you're going to have to wait until Ohio State's pro day at the end of March.
Ohio St defensive end Chase Young, the top prospect in @MoveTheSticks Top 50, is not planning to take part in drills for the NFL Scouting Combine this week, source says. He will be here for interviews and medicals, though.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 24, 2020
Personally, I'm fine with it. The combine is for proving yourself, and he's uh, done that. There's nothing he could possibly do at the combine to improve his draft stock further, and sitting out sure isn't going to hurt him, either.
In a month, he'll show teams he's still capable of moving, the Redskins will draft him at No. 2 overall, and everything will be fine.
LUE IS LOOSE. Luther Muhammad finally had himself a game on Sunday afternoon, and it was a long time coming. But Chris Holtmann never lost faith, and made sure he didn't either.
Through it all, Holtmann worked to keep Muhammad’s head up.
“I told him – we had lunch a couple of weeks ago – and I remember saying to him, ‘Hey, there’s going to be a game where you’re going to make a few key threes,’” he said.
“And at this point, you guys kept bringing stats, ‘What are you gonna do with Luther, he’s 1-for-30 in his last four games.’ It was after a frustrating game where I don’t think he scored maybe at all, and I just said, ‘Hey, you’re going to have a game if you keep working and you stick with the process, you’re going to have a game where you’re the difference and your shot-making is the difference. It’s a credit to that kid that he just has stuck with the process.”
It wasn't just the threes though, dude was dominant on both sides of the ball and was the go-to guy when Ohio State needed one against a top-10 team. That was clutch as hell after he's been frustrating to watch for a solid portion of this season.
So credit to him for not giving up, because his time eventually came, and his number's going to keep getting called.
QUESTION TIME. I've been a vocal advocate for Damon Arnette since y'all thought he was a sentient pass interference penalty, and he came back this year and proved he can play in the league and even flashed some first-round potential.
But that's only part of the equation. Now he's got to convince teams he's ready for the league off the field as well.
Damon Arnette, CB, Ohio State
Arnette made the wise decision to return for his senior season, playing like a player worthy of first-round consideration. While he has shown growth both on and off the field, NFL teams still have “major” questions about his emotional maturity and off-field decision-making that he must address during interviews.
I'm not going to share or speculate too much, but the fact that multiple extremely plugged in individuals have hinted at very legitimate off-field concerns should tell you that there's at least something there. But that doesn't mean he hasn't done a complete 180 in that regard already.
I'm betting Arnette has himself a fantastic combine in more ways than one, we just won't see a 40 time attached to his interview performance.
CAN YOU DRAFT HIM SOONER THAN FIRST? Joe Burrow's draft stock took an unspeakably enormous hit yesterday when his hands measured just nine inches, which would be the shortest among 1st-round quarterbacks since 2008.
This obviously invalidates everything he's ever done on a football field and may as well nullify his Heisman Trophy, but Joey B had a better-than-perfect response on Twitter:
Considering retirement after I was informed the football will be slipping out of my tiny hands. Please keep me in your thoughts.
— Joey Burrow (@Joe_Burrow10) February 24, 2020
I'm not sure if there's a way he can go sooner than No. 1 overall, but that's where the Bengals should draft him. He's too perfect.
Pick -1. Lock it in.
WORLD TOUR ON HOLD. It looks like the spread of one disease is stopping the spread of another as Michigan's spring world tour has been canceled this year, saving the world from the maize and blue epidemic.
Jim Harbaugh and Michigan football have traveled to Italy, France and South Africa the past three years.
But with the recent outbreaks of coronavirus worldwide, the Wolverines will not be making an international trip this spring.
"The football team will not be taking an international trip this spring due to the health concerns around the world, most notably coronavirus." U-M spokesman Dave Ablauf told the Free Press on Monday. "The program is looking at doing some community service in the Ann Arbor area."
I'm told that there are no plans for a replacement trip to Indianapolis in December as it has been deemed unrealistic.
NOT STICKING TO SPORTS. What a pandemic might look like in the United States... Students buy a plane ticket to get a $227 meal from Chick-fil-A... Woman gets a reply from her crush eight years after texting him... How a mafia super-boss still runs the drug trade despite 30 years on the run... A DEA agent is accused of conspiring to launder money for the Colombian drug cartel... How Mount Everest became a multimillion-dollar business... A mother and daughter buy an abandoned chateau and invite you to stay as they restore it.
