Another week in the time of corona. My cat is getting restless with the amount of time I'm spending at home.
Song of the Day: "Raccoon" by "It Looks Sad."
Word of the Day: Unfastidious.
LOOKING GOOD. ESPN's seers have made their official prognostications – Ohio State is going to be gas on offense for the foreseeable future.
Using a combination of current rosters, future recruiting, potential NFL departures, non-senior depth and unit trajectory, the Worldwide Leader gives Ohio State the second-best offense of the next three seasons.
2. Ohio State Buckeyes
2020 future QB ranking: 2
2019 future offense ranking: 5Scouting the Buckeyes: The combination of quarterback Justin Fields' emergence (short term) and Ryan Day's talent for developing record-setting QBs (long term) elevates Ohio State's offense through 2022. Oklahoma transfer Trey Sermon addresses a short-term depth problem at running back, and young ball carriers like Master Teague, Marcus Crowley and 2021 recruit TreVeyon Henderson will carry the load through 2022.
The Buckeyes lose a lot at receiver but get at least another year from Chris Olave, at least two more years from Garrett Wilson and add Julian Fleming, ESPN's No. 1 overall recruit in the 2020 class. The Buckeyes are seasoned at tight end (senior Luke Farrell, junior Jeremy Ruckert) and project extremely well along the line, as guard Wyatt Davis and center Josh Myers turned down the NFL draft.
Ohio State's offensive line recruiting has been excellent with tackles Nicholas Petit-Frere and Paris Johnson, among others.
You'll be shocked to learn that Little Ole Clemson is at No. 1, taking the top spot in both future quarterback and future offense rankings. I strongly beg to differ, but we'll just go ahead and let that play out on the field the next few years.
'KROOTIN. Our enemies rejoiced when Urban Meyer went into retirement. Even if there was a coach who could match him in other aspects of the job, there was no way anyone would maintain his consistency on the recruiting trail. Probably.
Well, two years later, Ohio State now has half of the top-four recruiters of the College Football Playoff era.
Best Recruiting Coaches of the CFP Era: pic.twitter.com/t0TXt1Wx0N
— parker (@statsowar) May 10, 2020
Hilariously, that isn't even including Ryan Day's 2020 class, which has a legit chance to finish as the highest-rated recruiting class of all-time.
Needless to say, things have been going well in Columbus, and they just keep on looking up.
PLAYER OF THE DECADE. I knew EJ Liddell had himself one hell of a high school career, but apparently he was so damn good that Stl. Today is giving him the nod as their Player of the Decade over guys like Jayson Tatum and Bradley Beal.
Player of the decade: EJ Liddell, F, Belleville West
Graduation Year: 2019
The 2018 and 2019 All-Metro player of the year, Liddell averaged 20.2 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 3.9 blocks per game as a senior to lead Belleville West to back-to-back Class 4A championships. First player from the Metro East to lead his team to consecutive state championships since LaPhonso Ellis at East St. Louis Lincoln. Named Illinois Mr. Basketball as a junior and senior to become the second player to win it in back-to-back seasons since award began in 1981. Averaged 20.8 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 5.9 blocks per game. In his four years on varsity, he averaged 19.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 3.9 blocks per game. Signed with Ohio State. Played in all 31 games for the Buckeyes. Averaged 6.7 points and 3.8 rebounds. Blocked 29 shots, second most on the team.
And to be fair, those are exactly the kind of numbers I would expect the Player of the Decade to have! But Tatum was relatively unimpressed, taking to Twitter to complain about someone who likely looks up to him winning the award over him.
Touch https://t.co/h928Iktr2o
— E.J. Liddell (@EasyE2432) May 9, 2020
I don't know what to tell you, Jayson. I guess you should have been better at basketball in high school.
RENEWING HIS TICKETS. Gov. Mike DeWine remains non-committal about whether we'll have a college football season, much less whether they'll be fans in the stands at the 'Shoe, but he's prepared just in case.
Gov. Mike DeWine just renewed his OSU season tickets. I asked if he anticipates Buckeyes will play this fall.
— Dave Briggs (@DBriggsBlade) May 9, 2020
I would certainly think they could figure out how to do a season...Can we go watch them? I think it's much too early to be making that [call]. https://t.co/C5lEgyeOKg
Maybe I'm naive, but I'm getting more and more optimistic that they'll figure something out, and the 'Shoe won't be completely empty. But I'm not picky as long as there's college football on my television.
WHO DID IT BETTER? Because it's Monday in the extended, quite very long offseason, we're out here comparing one-handed catches on Twitter between players and coaches.
Who did it better @Jeremy_Ruckert1 @brianhartline? https://t.co/4gY7Fjgrm1 pic.twitter.com/F4X04v23in
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) May 9, 2020
Well, one was a tide-turning catch in the Big Ten Championship game which propelled Ohio State to the college football playoff and the other is a catch in practice while not even wearing pads. So I appreciate the question, but I'm fairly confident in my answer!
Regardless, I love the humble brag of "Hey, I used to play in the NFL and have a sports card with me on it." My wide receivers coach could Moss your wide receivers coach.
Love the content. Do quarterbacks next!
NOT STICKING TO SPORTS. A New Orleans man’s double murder case is upended by new evidence... A romance writer is charged with killing her husband... Cleveland to pay $18 million to a trio who spent decades in prison for wrongful 1975 murder convictions... German 'zombie hunters' were found with car full of weapons at the Swedish border...
