Skull Session: TreVeyon Henderson is “Good to Go” for Maryland, Craig Young's Switching Positions Again and Mitch Rossi’s Bringing Fullback Back

Ryan Day met with the media yesterday and while it was comforting to hear confirmation TreVeyon Henderson is just fine, tight end or fullback or full-end or whatever he is, former walk-on Mitch Rossi kinda stole the show. As you'll recall, Rossi, a tight end on the roster, electrified Buckeye Nation with a touchdown catch out of the backfield against Rutgers.

Here's Rossi with C.J. Barnett and it sounds like he's got his mind set on bringing the fullback position back to prominence.

Big Mitch! @mitch_rossi5 is the Buck of the Week! #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/ivOr37oEOo
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) October 5, 2021

"The fullback got phased out... I want to be part of the revolution." We're here for it, Mitch.

But hey, Rutgers is in the rear-view as Day and company turn their eyes to Maryland. Unfortunately for the Terps, they'll be without electric wide receiver Dontay Demus Jr. after an ugly injury to to his left knee suffered against Iowa required surgery.

The dude had already amassed over 500 yards receiving in a little over four games. Hopefully the young man will realize a speedy and full recovery allowing him to do damage for the Terps next year.

CRAIG YOUNG, SWISS ARMY KNIFE. Even without Demus, the Terps still bring an explosive offense to Columbus on Saturday. Behind quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, Maryland ranks No. 13 in passing offense at 317 yards per game and No. 24 in total offense with 469-yards output per contest.

Clearly, keeping Tagovailoa in check will be key and Ohio State's secondary has made strides as guys like Denzel Burke, Ronnie Hickman and Cameron Martinez have emerged as legit playmakers for the Buckeyes. With that trio, among others, stepping up, Ohio State has improved to No. 43 in the country in yards per pass attempt allowed and its seven interceptions stands as the 10th-most in the land.

Of course, slowing the pass while not getting gashed on the ground requires flexibility in both scheme, which includes more Cover 2, and player attributes. As such, Day talked yesterday about former linebacker and now former bullet Craig Young repping at cover safety to give the Buckeyes additional depth and versatility.

“I think Ronnie’s done a very good job. He’s obviously been very, very productive, and we’re moving Craig into a little bit of a different role there, and so he’s kind of finding his way in that new role. Trying to find a way for us to get them both on the field, because they’re both very talented.”

At 6-foot-3, 222-pounds, Young has the size to stand up against the run along with the speed and quickness to be a factor in coverage. It'll be interesting to see if Young does indeed play a bigger role for the Buckeyes as conference play wears on.

HOOPS! THERE IT IS. The Big Ten announced yesterday tip times and network assignments for much of Ohio State's 2021-22 men's basketball season. I know we've all got football fever but it's wild to think Chris Holtmann's squad plays its first exhibition game in less than a month (November 1 versus Indianapolis) and sits just 34 days away from the season-opener against Akron.

It feels like a pivotal year for Holtmann as he enters his fifth season at the helm. The previous four seasons saw the Buckeyes finish second in the Big Ten in year one, followed by an 8th-place finish in year two and back-to-back 5th-place finishes the last two seasons in an ultra-competitive conference.

Holtmann's done a nice job attracting talent headlined by E.J. Liddell and after going 2-3 in the NCAA Tournament across the first four seasons, reaching the second weekend for the first time feels like a must-have for his program. I'm sure all involved are motivated to wash the taste of last season's disappointing loss to No. 15 seed Oral Roberts in the opening round after reaching the Big Ten tournament final.

It should be a fun ride watching Liddell do his thing, Meechie Johnson possibly make a huge leap, Zed Key blast his finger guns and Malaki Branham ~~possibly~~ likely break out as a true freshman, among other storylines.

Non-conference slate highlights include:

Thursday, November 18: Gavitt Games matchup with Xavier in Cincinnati at 6:30 p.m. ET
Monday, November 22 and Wednesday, November 24: Ft. Myers Tip-Off Classic against Seton Hall and either Cal or Florida in game two
Tuesday, November 30: A home date against Duke in the ACC/B1G Challenge
Wednesday, December 8: A 9pm ET weeknight tip-off against --checks notes-- Towson lolol
Saturday, December 18: Ohio State takes on Kentucky at 5pm ET in Las Vegas as part of the CBS Sports Classic

The conference will once again be loaded so I won't bullet out the host of big time matchups.

85 YARDS THROUGH THE HEART OF THE SOUTH. Steven Godfrey over at Secret Base set the stage and reviewed the importance of Ezekiel Elliott's backbreaking 85-yard touchdown run versus Alabama in the 2015 Sugar Bowl in a short that's worth 11 minutes of your time. I actually just watched the condensed version of this game last week and two totally random and unimportant things stuck out to me alongside all the things that were so important about that game. First, Corey Smith was a hell of a gunner. Second, Evan Spencer was robbed of a catch in the first quarter that was even more spectacular than his touchdown pass to Mike Thomas. Anyway, watch this. And remember, it's never too late to score the best selling shirt in 11W history for yourself or and a loved one.

LOU HOLTZTH OUT HERE STEALING IN BROAD DAYLIGHT. So, I freely admit I assumed Lou Holtz invented the Play Like A Champion mantra and by extension, the cool sign that hangs above Notre Dame's locker room hallway leading to the field.

Turns out, though Holtz claims he brought back the mantra after reading about it in a Notre Dame football history book that nobody can locate, it seems the roots most cleanly trace back to Oklahoma's Bud Wilkinson employing a similar sign an exact slogan, dating back to the late 1940s.

ESPN.com's Dave Wilson wrote an excellent column on the slogan and sign history you should check out even if don't care for Notre Dame any more than I do.

Interestingly enough, both Oklahoma and Notre Dame were both too dumb (or maybe just not greedy enough - you know OSU would move to legally own that shit in a heartbeat) to trademark the phrase and as of late last month, a group headlined by Holtz, former Irish quarterback Rick Mirer and receiver Derrick Mayes are the proud owners.

Holtz asserts Oklahoma's usage and possible invention was news to him.

"You just brought up the first time I ever knew that Oklahoma said they had that sign," he told ESPN.com last week. "I never knew Oklahoma even had the sign. And if they had it in the '40s, ours was up in the '30s, I'll tell ya, because it was an old book. So, yeah, I'm not worried about that. We got the [trademark] to it now, and we'll move on... Right now, the way they played the last couple of weeks? Oklahoma needs to hit that sign twice."

Lol okay, Lou. And how you gonna zing Oklahoma when that program's success has dwarfed Notre Dame's for too many years to count?

There's much more to the lengthy story than captured here - it really is worth the read - including how the lady who painted the sign for Holtz owned the trademark rights for quite some time.

Any way you slice it, the tradition of Play Like A Champion is largely tied to Notre Dame but former Oklahoma head coach Barry Switzer eloquently articulated how Sooner fans feel about that.

"I don't really give a shit, you know? We know the truth."

25 YEARS AGO YESTERDAY. I'm an awful person willing to acknowledge the current version of Lee Corso is one of the many reasons I can no longer watch College Gameday but the dude is a legend and 25 years ago yesterday, his most famous schtick was born on the banks of the Olentangy. Salute.