Skull Session: Looking Back at Ohio State's Dunks, There's Nothing Pete Werner Can't Do, and Justin Fields is Compared to Jameis Winston

By Kevin Harrish on March 12, 2021 at 5:30 am
We're still watching this flush in today's skull session.
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Get dumped then, Purdue.

Word of the Day: Sanguine.

 LET'S RUN THAT BACK. Highlights are my favorite because it allows us to have a completely subjective memory about yesterday's game.

So here are all the parts of the win where Ohio State looked like the damn Harlem Globetrotters without any of the parts where they somehow almost blew a 12-point lead.

Justin Ahrens even got in on the action with an absolutely thunderous dunk of his own!

And while we're doing to the whole selective memory thing, I'd like to point out that Ohio State made 7 of its last 9 field goal attempts to close the game (please disregard the fact that they also didn't score a field goal in the game's last 3:24).

Let's do it all again today, shall we?

 “THERE'S NOTHING HE CAN'T DO.” I've always seen Pete Werner as the type of guy who's going to quietly start for 10 years in the league, be nobody's favorite player but get pretty much no criticism, and maybe have a fringe all-pro season one year but outside of that get no real national attention.

And I'm ready to double-down on that #take after reading some thoughts from actual NFL scouts.

Pete Werner, Ohio State (6-foot-2½, 240 pounds): Three-year starter in a linebacking corps with three other prospects in the draft. “I wasn’t that high on him coming into the fall,” said one scout. “The more I watched him, I said this is exactly what you want. Smart, active, quick. He can tackle and he can cover. There’s nothing he can’t do. I’ve got him in the second half of the first round.” Never intercepted a pass but broke up 13. “He’s got speed to carry routes, he can match up with tight ends and he’s a good blitzer,” a second scout said. “He’s got really good run fits. Really good kid. Everybody there loves him. One of those guys who will knock the shit out of you.

”Ex-Buckeye MLB James Laurinaitis, a second-round pick in 2009, played almost every snap for St. Louis for seven seasons. “I think Werner is better,” a third scout said. “Laurinaitis was almost like another coach on the field, but was a below-the-line athlete. This kid is a good athlete. He’ll run 4.6. He’s very similar to (Logan) Wilson from last year. This guy’s a little better even.” Said a fourth scout: “He’s limited. Try-hard guy.”

The good news is, he's got a fine future ahead of him. The bad news is, if he thought he was underappreciated at Ohio State, that sure ain't going to go away at the next level, my friend.

 SCOUTS TALK FIELDS. We've still got a full month of Justin Fields #takes ahead of us and I promise I'm not going to keep sharing them all here because you can only talk so much about the same damn thing.

But when actual NFL scouts are giving their takes, I pay attention a little more.

Justin Fields, Ohio State (6-foot-3, 228 pounds): Spent his freshman season at Georgia before transferring and becoming a two-year starter. “He’s a modern-day RPO quarterback,” said one scout. “He’s a naturally accurate ball thrower and the ball gets out of his hands, too. He’s not a runner like Lamar (Jackson), but he’s way better than Jalen Hurts was. He will have to learn progressions. Very athletic. Very cool demeanor. Plus, he’s sturdy.”

Led the Buckeyes to a 1-2 record in the College Football Playoff. “Love his makeup, the playmaking, his competitiveness, the movement,” a second scout said. “He’s poised. He stepped up in the big games. He’s just not a quick processor in the pocket. He’s more methodical. That’s a worry. He had the streak in the Indiana game: ’What is this guy doing?’” Passed for 67 TDs and ran for another 19. “He is one of the top athletes (at quarterback) of all time,” a third scout said. “Best thing Fields does is throw the deep ball. But is he Jameis Winston? That’s who I see. I see the best quarterback in the draft on one play, and on the next play, I see a guy that makes stupid mistakes. Throws off his back foot a lot. Has a lot of balls tipped. He’s a first-rounder, but I wouldn’t take him until the bottom (of the round).”

Passer rating was 127.6. “He played his worst game in the Big Ten Championship (game) against Northwestern, yet they still found a way to win,” said a fourth scout. “People are saying they don’t even belong there (in the playoff), and he plays a damn near perfect game against Clemson. In the national championship, he carried them. What would be ideal for him would be to go somewhere and not have to play the first year. But the physical talent is so wow, they’re going to see that in practice and say, ‘This guy has to play.’ There needs to be a tremendous amount of growth, which I think he is capable of.”

"But is he Jameis Winston? That's who I see."

Good lord, I've read some scathing things about Justin Fields these past few weeks but this might take the cake as the single cruelest thing anybody's ever said about him. 

I get the sentiment, but also, Fields doesn't run like he has a coat-hanger shoved up his ass and he threw half as many interceptions in his entire career as Winston had his last season, so maybe the comparison isn't as fair as he thinks. Also, calling him "one of the top athletes of all-time" and comparing him to Jameis Winston in the same breath is... something.

Everything else is fair though. The reality is if you draft Justin Fields, you're drafting upside and talent, not a polished, finished product. And that's totally fine!

 JUST AS YOU'D EXPECT... A list of the top pass-rushing numbers since 2016 has Chase Young and Nick Bosa right up there at the top.

But this list is pretty hilarious for another reason, too.

Rashad Weaver, you might remember, was one of the first players Jim Harbaugh processed out of Michigan's recruiting class when he first got to Ann Arbor, changing his scholarship offer to a preferred walk-on. So he went on to become a consensus All-American at Pitt.

Give that man a raise!

 SONG OF THE DAY. "She Moves In Her Own Way" by The Kooks.

 NOT STICKING TO SPORTS. Strap yourselves in, they're making a movie about the Cocaine Bear... The hunt for the Long Island serial killer of prostitutes... Texas Rangers stop using hypnosis after a news investigation reveals dubious science... A trader buys $36 million in copper and gets painted rocks instead... How to return to running after a break...

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