Skull Session: Jeff Okudah Presses Mel Kiper About Damon Arnette's Draft Rating, Chase Young Ruined Practice in High School, and Urban Meyer Talks Dwayne Haskins' Rookie Troubles

By Kevin Harrish on April 15, 2020 at 4:59 am
Justin Fields holds a ball in today's skull session.
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I put this in yesterday's Skull Session and y'all closed the gap about 10 percent. Now it's almost a dead heat.

But that's not good enough in my mind, because no Michigan Man deserves to smile about anything at our expense, even if it's a trivial Twitter poll.

Remember, "If they're keeping score, we'd like to win that thing."

Song of the Day: "Boom Clap" Charli XCX cover by Lennon and Maisy Stella.

Word of the Day: Repugnant.

 JEFE ASKS THE TOUGH QUESTIONS. It's probably not a normal thing for a soon-to-be first-round pick to use his time on national television exposure to fight on behalf of his former teammate, but Jeff Okudah is different.

Jefe is going to be a top-five pick for a reason, but people seem to forget there's more than one receiver on the field at a time. Ohio State's secondary wasn't just a no-fly zone because of him.

 “I'M GONNA WRECK IT!” It sounds like in high school, Chase Young was basically just Wreck-it Ralph, from the 2012 film Wreck-It Ralph. But in Young's case, his digital building was a football field.

Former Buckeye defense gasher Anthony McFarland paints a grim picture of his team's attempts to simply practice with The Predator lining up in the trenches.

"Oh, man, Chase used to wreck practice, like every day," he said. "When he was at D-end, especially when he first got there, our offense couldn't get the ball off. We just couldn't get the ball off."

...

"Chase just wanted to dominate anybody who was in front of him," McFarland, who'll be in the same draft class as Young, said. "A lot of the coaches and stuff would be mad because we're trying to get a play off or we're trying to practice, and Chase is just like, 'No.'"

In those days, McFarland couldn't wait for his interactions with Young to stop. But looking back now, he thinks it highlights one of the pass rusher's best qualities.

"That's why I know he's going to be a good player, because he's been like that since high school," McFarland told Redskins Talk. "No matter what, he's going to get himself better each play. It doesn't matter what the offense is trying to do. He's one of those guys, man, who pisses the coach off."

Imagine being forced to tell a high schooler to go less hard in practice. It sounds like a hell of a problem to have.

 LACK OF EXPERIENCE, NOT MATURITY. When you're a rookie who misses the final play of your first NFL win because you're taking selfies with fans, folks are going to question your maturity. I mean, Colin Cowherd has spent a decade yelling about backward hats. Media talking heads don't need much ammo.

But Urban Meyer – the fellow who coached Haskins for three years – doesn't think maturity is the issue. Just a lack of experience.

I'm not going to pretend I'm smart enough to know what the issue is, but at the very least, I'm damn near certain it's not a lack of talent. I've watched him teleport too many footballs too perfectly into too many sets of arms to think he's gonna be anything but successful at the NFL level. Just wait on it.

 OOOOOOOF. Ranking the best quarterbacks in program history isn't supposed to be a painful or depressing exercise, and yet...

So, the *best* quarterback in Michigan history went 0-4 against Ohio State and 1-3 in bowl games with a single All-Big Ten finish as his highest individual accolade. Meanwhile, No. 2 on the list threw just 10 more touchdowns than interceptions and was most famous for refusing to tie his damn shoes. Holy shit.

There are about 10 Buckeye quarterbacks in my lifetime that I would put at No. 1 on this list and that might even include a guy who was never a full-time starter. How do Michigan fans wake up every morning?

 NOT STICKING TO SPORTS. A woman's attraction to chandeliers is ruled not a sexual orientation... Inside the craft brewery founded by Swedish death metal royalty... A cocaine dealer tells police he is an essential worker after being pulled over... Love in the age of robots... The weird thing that causes the smell of spring... The CIA's quest to build an aircraft siren that scares the hell out of people... Confessions of an obsolete child actor...

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