Skull Session: Buckeye Commits Say a New Commitment is Coming, Jack Nicklaus Was a Buckeye From Birth, and E.J. Liddell and Duane Washington Are Still Mulling

By Kevin Harrish on June 7, 2021 at 4:59 am
We've got a helmet in today's skull session.
67 Comments

Hello, does anybody know how to tattoo a video onto my chest?

This one would also be fine.

Song of the Day: Vitiate.

 HERE COMES THE BOOM. The dead period has been dead for a whole week and we haven't had a single commitment yet, but the current commits seem rather convinced that a #BOOM (or perhaps even plural #BOOMs) are imminent.

That's all fine and good, but let's get this train rolling, please. My blogger fingers are getting antsy.

 BUCKEYE THROUGH AND THROUGH. Turns out, there was never any doubt at all that Jack Nicklaus was going to be a Buckeye.

He almost certainly could have skipped college and went straight to the professional ranks (Yes, the greatest golfer of all-time probably would have been fine without collegiate golf), but he didn't for an extremely simple reason – he loved the Buckeyes.

Sunday morning, as the final round of the Memorial Tournament was getting underway at Muirfield Village Golf Club, Nicklaus was on hand to recognize this year’s collegiate winners of the annual award that bears his name. As one discussed having briefly considered never playing collegiately, and another mentioned his pending transfer for his final season, Nicklaus was asked: had he considered skipping college?

In short: no.

“I was recruited by a lot of schools and offered scholarships,” he said. “I told them, don’t bother. I was going to go to Ohio State because I wanted to go to Ohio State. I hadn’t missed an Ohio State football game since I was 6 years old. I wasn’t about to miss one.”

And the Buckeyes loved him, especially when he pretty much won the team's Big Ten title single-handedly.

“(Coach Robert Kepler) said, ‘Nick I’ve never asked you to do anything before. I need you to spread-eagle the field. I need you to win by as many shots as you can, otherwise I don’t think we can get this team through,’ ” Nicklaus said. “I won the Big Ten by 23 shots, and we won by 1.

“I never had a coach ask me to do something like that again. I was grinding, trying to get as many shots in as I could.”

I don't know if it would be all that easy to make an Ohio State athletics Mt. Rushmore, but I do know that Jack Nicklaus would absolutely be on it.

 WILL THEY STAY OR WILL THEY GO? E.J. Liddell and Duane Washington Jr. still have a decision to make regarding their NBA futures, and while I think most of us have been pretty much just assuming they would ultimately elect to return, that doesn't really seem like a guarantee at this point, according to Dana O'Neil of The Athletic.

Buckeyes fan here. Wondering what the word on the street is regarding E.J. Liddell and Duane Washington Jr. as they test the pre-draft waters. Most of what I have seen to this point has them returning next season. Have you heard the same? Assuming they return, is Ohio State in contention to win the Big Ten next year? Thanks. — Joe B.

I can’t say that I can make an accurate prediction, but I’ve heard both are a slight lean to stay in the draft. That’s not a guarantee, and that doesn’t mean they should.

First off, in my brain, this is Joe Burrow asking the question and you cannot convince me otherwise.

Second, my general vibe of this situation is that nobody has any real idea if they're coming back or staying in the draft yet, including those two players. So in my humblest of opinions, this just ain't worth getting yourselves worked up for yet.

But I will say, it is a bit unnerving that Ohio State could realistically be a Final Four contender or a fringe tournament team next season, and that's completely dependent on these guys' decision. Prayers up for Chris Holtmann's heart!

 WELCOME HOME. It looks like Ohio State's welcomed a fresh crop of walk-ons to campus this weekend.

Realistically, you'll probably never hear these guys' names called over the Ohio Stadium PA system, but they're absolutely vital to the program and should be treated as such.

 SONG OF THE DAY. "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" by The Clash.

 NOT STICKING TO SPORTS. A Busch beer can sits at the center of a 31-year-old murder... The California coffee cup murder... Soon, you may be able to choose what you dream about... The app that monetized doing nothing... The greatest draft pick ever... Why astronauts are printing organs in space... How rampant pitch-doctoring in MLB is pumping pitchers up and deflating offenses...

67 Comments
View 67 Comments