It looks like my vague hope in science is already paying off.
Today, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine @PittHealthSci scientists announced a potential vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus causing the #COVID19 pandemic. https://t.co/ILW4IQfou7 pic.twitter.com/Y7l0SifBtn
— UPMC (@UPMCnews) April 2, 2020
Merry Pittsmas, everybody.
Song of the Day: "Hooked on a Feeling" by Blue Swede.
Word of the Day: Oblation.
WRU. To any honest observer, Ohio State is pretty clearly DBU ("BIA," if you prefer), so if iron truly sharpens iron then I guess it makes sense that the wide receivers would be pretty damn good as well.
And that's exactly what we've got in SI's attempt to rank the best schools at producing receivers.
1. Clemson, 54 points
2. Ohio State, 46
3. LSU, 40
4. Alabama, 36
5. Georgia, 35
6(tie). Baylor, 33
6(tie). USC, 33
8. Notre Dame, 30
9(tie). Oklahoma, 27
9(tie). Tennessee, 27...
How prolific has Clemson been? Eleven of their receivers who entered the league between 2010 and ’19 started at least one game in the NFL. The Tigers are led by DeAndre Hopkins and his three All-Pro nods—only Central Michigan alum Antonio Brown has more.
Added up, it's enough to hold off a Michael Thomas–led Ohio State group, in large part because the Buckeyes didn’t have a single first-round pick in the 2010s (Devin Smith, 37th overall in 2015, was the highest selection).
I will begrudgingly take second place here for now, but only because Ohio State signed six top-100 players at receiver in the past two years, so Clemson's reign is going to be extremely short-lived.
Get back to me about this in four years.
SPRING FOOTBALL COMETH? It's a few years too late for it to ever be useful for him, but it sure looks like Urban Meyer might be getting his wish: spring football practice is probably coming to Ohio, kind of.
The calendar has been frozen in time: four weeks of August practice, and then the games begin. But a significant alteration could be coming — spring practice. Just don’t call it that.
“In our world, the differentiation between [evaluation period] and the words ‘spring practice’ are exponentially important,” OHSAA executive director Jerry Snodgrass said. “Our schools are not interested in spring football. And I'm not speaking as Jerry Snodgrass, I'm speaking as a representative for our schools. They're just not. There’s too much interest in baseball, softball, track and field, multi-sport athletes. The states that have spring football are primarily southern states, and their baseball season starts in January.”
“An evaluation period,” Snodgrass continued, “is a whole different story.”
The Ohio High School Football Coaches Association made a proposal in January to the OHSAA for five non-consecutive days of spring football between April 15 and May 31. Players would be in helmets without shoulder pads, flexible scheduling would be used to avoid conflicts with spring sports, and combined sessions with other programs (passing scrimmages, 7-on-7s, etc.) would not be permitted. The focus is fundamentals.
I'm not going to pretend to be intimately plugged into the Ohio high school sports realm enough to know whether spring football is good or bad, but my uncontroversial take is that there's no way five non-consecutive days is going to do much harm or help in any case, so we may as well give it a try and just see how it plays out.
PICK UP YOUR JOCK. Everyone seems to be sleeping on Austin Mack this NFL Draft season, but I've got a sneaky suspicion someone's going to be extremely surprised when they get him to camp and he does this to one of their corners:
Reply with a better route than Ohio State's Austin Mackpic.twitter.com/Q1NlrunVk0
— PFF Draft (@PFF_College) April 1, 2020
I know he's not the fastest and doesn't have the numbers of the other Buckeye receivers, but if you can run routes like that, you're going to find your way onto the field.
Just ask this guy.
BIG UPS. In case you needed a reminder of how much of a physical freak Malik Harrison is, here is the Buckeye linebacker winning a high school dunk contest four years ago.
Four years ago today, Malik Harrison won the inaugural Battle for the City dunk contest! @Leek_39 @OhioStateFB pic.twitter.com/90VueB4ozQ
— Jason Morrow (@JasonMorrow270) April 3, 2020
6-foot-3, 250 pounds is not supposed to move like that.
AIN'T GOING ANYWHERE. Rest easy everyone, Mickey Marotti did not actually leave Ohio State to become a rock 'n roll drummer.
Just checking in to see if @MickeyMarotti is still our strength coach...
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) April 2, 2020
Whew #OpenDoorChallenge #GoBucks https://t.co/Zzleu17fL6 pic.twitter.com/Q3Vwf2COnT
In all honesty, he's not going to be able to do this forever, and that actually would have been a pretty incredible way to go out.
But I'm sure not about to complain that he's back again.
NOT STICKING TO SPORTS. How to cut your own hair... What the Japanese elderly can teach us about aging... I was addicted to Adderall for a decade... The woman who lives 200,000 years in the past... A man gained access to an online class and exposed himself... What everyone is getting wrong about the toilet paper shortage... A look back at Franklin, American's lost state... Elon Musk donated the wrong kind of ventilator... The coronavirus test that might exempt you from social distancing — if you pass... The inside account of how Bird laid off 406 people in two minutes via a Zoom webinar.
