Skull Session: NCAA President Mark Emmert “Certainly” Believes Football Will Be Played, a Draft Analyst Thinks Justin Fields is "Shorter and Smaller,” and Ezekiel Elliott is Feeling Better After COVID-19 Diagnosis

Known for his boldness, Urban Meyer's out here promoting his restaurant while live on the air as a college football analyst.

Shoutout to @UrbansPintHouse pic.twitter.com/bLRR3eyKW5
— Urban Meyer (@CoachUrbanMeyer) June 24, 2020

I can’t knock the hustle.

I guess in the spirit of shameless promotion, my fiancée and I are registered at...

Word of the Day: Vicinal.

“THERE WILL BE FOOTBALL IN THE FALL.” The NCAA president Mark Emmert has spoken – and at this moment, he "certainly" believes we will have football this fall.

“I certainly think that sitting here today, there will be football in the fall,” Emmert said. “The situation is obviously very, very fluid. What we do know for sure is that whatever occurs, it’s going to be different. We’re not going to be able to have football in the same way that we’re accustomed to seeing it year in and year out. It’s all going to come down to whether or not it can be done in a safe fashion.”

...

“You have to assume that there will be student-athletes and students in general who come down with the virus,” Emmert said. “The early cases around summer workouts are proving that. So the real question isn’t, what do you if someone comes down with a case? It’s, what do you do when they do? We’ve got to come up with protocols that protect student-athletes to the fullest extent possible, but you can’t assume that you can protect them completely. That’s not doable."

Though I'm admittedly a little more nervous this week than I was a few weeks ago when I thought the return of football was a virtual slam dunk, I'm still of the camp that they'll find a way to play this fall, if only because most athletic departments frankly don't have a choice.

I've said this before, but as long as the players feel safe playing – and I think the strong, strong majority do without much of a second thought – I think it's in the best interest of pretty much every single stakeholder in this scenario to have a football season, so everyone is going to fight like hell to make it happen.

ELITE 11 DOMINANCE. If recent trends continue, we might just have to rename the Elite 11 MVP award the Future Ohio State Quarterback Award, because two of the past three winners currently playing in college football are Buckeyes.

One week from today the 2020 #Elite11 MVP will be crowned

Who's next? pic.twitter.com/AYMat6Xwii
— Elite11 (@Elite11) June 24, 2020

No pressure, Kyle McCord.

“SHORTER AND SMALLER.” This isn't really something to get angry about on a Thursday morning, but I stumbled across a glowing NFL draft scouting report of Justin Fields, and it included a rather curious observation about Ohio State's resident ball-thrower.

The prospect talk at Ohio State begins with Justin Fields, a quarterback I find very impressive. While he’s shorter and smaller than I usually like in a signal caller, Fields has all the other skills to be a dominant starter in the NFL. He’s a talented passer with great patience and poise. He possesses a next-level arm, and while he needs to improve his pass placement, Fields has next-level accuracy. Fields is also a threat to run with the ball, but he does so only when completely necessary.

For comparative purposes, Fields is a much better passer than Kyler Murray and a much better physical package than Baker Mayfield.

This is especially odd to me because it's not the first time I've seen it! Multiple people seem to have this #take, and I have no idea how. I'm far from outraged about it, I'm just extremely confused how they arrived at that observation.

Because... Well...

Maybe the prototypical height and weight is undersized these days!

ZEKE IS FEELING FINE. Ezekiel Elliott is a tough fellow to slow down, and that apparently includes nasty respiratory diseases.

The runner of balls tested positive for COVID-19 a few days ago, but he's says that he's feeling "good" and "normal" now.

Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott says on Twitch that he feels "good" and "normal" after positive COVID-19 test.

Zeke said he had symptoms including cough, shortness of breath for 1-2 days. Can't work out yet but he's feeling much better. pic.twitter.com/SUQp3I05RG
— Jori Epstein (@JoriEpstein) June 24, 2020

He can soon add "bucked coronavirus" to his resume.

SONG OF THE DAY. "I Hope You Dance" by Lee Ann Womack.