Skull Session: Tyreke Smith Has Impressive Third-Down Win Rate, Jim Harbaugh Tells Recruits He Wants to Leave, and Duane Washington Jr. Has NBA Success

Welcome to the day formerly known as National Signing Day, which is still technically called National Signing Day, but has more or less been relegated to "National Signing Day Jr." as we're expecting just two (2) Letters of Intent today.

It is also the prognosticating marmot day, and you can trust that famed Ohioan Buckeye Chuck will have the goods – unlike this poor fellow, who presumably croaked under pressure.

New Jerseys weather-predicting groundhog, Milltown Mel, has died suddenly just before his big day https://t.co/1pP4BllOLr pic.twitter.com/QE8aQIp1Mi
— New York Post (@nypost) February 1, 2022

... or he's been dead for days or weeks and they only noticed when it came time to prep him for the big day. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but that seems rather suspicious!

Word of the Day: Diminutive.

TYREKE SMITH APPRECIATION POST. Since the departure of Chase Young, the narrative the past few seasons has been that Ohio State has no pass rush, particularly on the edge.

Tyreke Smith would like a word.

Pass rush win rate leaders on third down among Power Five defenders since 2019

Nik Bonitto: 36%
Arnold Ebiketie: 31%
Tyreke Smith: 26% pic.twitter.com/rtHT4IQXpH
— PFF Draft (@PFF_College) February 1, 2022

Young also had more than double Smith's career sacks in his 2019 season alone, but maybe it's not fair to compare every Ohio State defensive end to a top-three pick in the NFL Draft.

Though I guess that's the comparison you invite when you sign on to play defensive end for the Buckeyes.

GOODBYE, JIM. It's looking like today could finally be the day Jim Harbaugh finally makes his decision and ends his prolonged middle finger to the entire Michigan athletic program.

Potentially leaving on National Signing Day (well, Signing Day Jr., at least) is the absolute icing on the cake, but it turns out he's been pretty forthcoming with the recruits. Potentially more forthcoming than he was to his employer!

According to Deon Johnson, Will’s father who played at Michigan in the early 1990s, Harbaugh was forthcoming and answered Will Johnson’s questions.

“He told William he was definitely looking, and if an opportunity came up, he was probably going to take it,” Deon Johnson told The Detroit News on Tuesday. “(Harbaugh) told him he felt the team was gonna be good, they’re gonna win a lot of ballgames, they’re gonna do a lot of good things. But he wants to chase a Super Bowl. That’s one of the things on his list is to be a Super Bowl-winning coach.”

I can't hate on that logic. He's significantly more likely to win a Super Bowl with any given NFL team than he is to win a national title at Michigan, as evidenced by just how far off he was this year with probably the most talented team he'll ever have.

GOING OFF. This was not always a popular #take around here, but there has never been one single doubt in my mind that Duane Washington Jr. was an NBA talent. But I'll even I didn't exactly expect this in the first month of his rookie season.

Duane Washington Jr. over the last five games:

15 PPG
45.7 3P%
2.6 APG
2.4 RPG
21 MPG#GoldBlooded pic.twitter.com/hriNtvCQFq
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) February 1, 2022

I'd like to be able to say I'll take the high road here, but I can't. I was right, many others were wrong, and I'm going to take my victory lap while I laugh at all the comments disparaging him in the post about his draft declaration. Shoutout to the guy that said he'd be in "South Dakota making 35k a year." But Lord knows the Facebook comments were even worse.

Don't get me wrong though, I didn't *want* him to leave. I wanted him back for another year, and this is exactly why. The reality is, if he would have stayed, Ohio State would have had a legitimate shot at a national title with a lineup led by two legit Player of the Year candidates and a freshman capable of dropping 35.

But as you can all tell, he made the right decision.

BLOWS MY MIND. Ohio State's freshest crop of Buckeyes are here, and they're ready to share some extremely important information about what blows their minds.

whats something that blows your mind?! pic.twitter.com/43v0mWZ8i7
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) February 1, 2022

It feels like Jyaire Brown is the undeniable winner here. Robots just casually driving around with pizza will never be normal to me. That's how I know I'm old and washed.

SONG OF THE DAY. "Trap Queen" by Fetty Wap.