Skull Session: Buckeyes Need Better Guards, Helmet Communication Could Come to College Football, and Gee Scott Jr. Puts on Weight

I am FURIOUS I didn't get a call to collab on this.

Just dropped a diss track with @Arbys. Grab some popcorn and a Spicy Fish Sandwich. #ArbysSpicyFishDissTrack #ArbysPaidMeButIWouldSayThisAnyway pic.twitter.com/dzTuBlM9Ok
— King Push (@PUSHA_T) March 21, 2022

Word of the Day: Sullen.

CALLING ALL POINT GUARDS. The last time Ohio State had a point guard I legit trusted with the game on the line was D'Angelo Russell in 2014-15. That's seven years across two coaches.

That's a problem. It basically eliminates Ohio State from national title contention before the tournament even starts, because you simply cannot make a deep tournament run without stellar guard play. You just can't. It doesn't happen.

Chris Holtmann even admits that, and he also admits that Ohio State has not had it.

"You can't close out games with your interior guys being your primary playmakers. It just can't happen," Holtmann said after the loss, referring to the need for stronger guard play, especially in late-game situations. "You have to have that to win in the last four minutes, and that's priority No. 1.

"We've got continue to grow that within our roster and obviously with our recruiting class. We have some guys who have to get better in that area. And will."

...

Simply put, teams need strong guard play to advance deeper into March.

“The ball is in their hands so much, and it dictates so much of the game in general,” Holtmann said, explaining why guards become especially important during the NCAA tournament.

I'll concede the injuries were a very real and valid excuse this year, everything else aside. Losing Justice Sueing for basically the entire season and Kyle Young when it mattered was probably going to be impossible to overcome no matter what. And then there was Zed Key missing several games and Seth Towns missing the whole season.

But here's the thing – even if those guys were all completely healthy the entire season, the whole "Ohio State hasn't had an elite point guard in seven years" thing *still* would have been a problem! This team still didn't have the guard play necessary to make a run. It still would have relied on interior guys as playmakers. It still wouldn't have been able to close out games.

I give Holtmann credit for recruiting and/or developing some extremely good forwards and wings – Keita Bates-Diop, Jae'Sean Tate, E.J. Liddell and Malaki Branham are all NBA players and Kaleb Wesson is no slouch. But as we've found out March after March, that just doesn't matter without a point guard.

No pressure, Bruce Thornton.

HELMET COMMS COMETH? At the NFL level, coaches have been able to talk to a player on the field via a one-way helmet communicator since before I was born. Given how long that technology has been around, it's kind of wild it still hasn't made it to any level of college football.

There are logistical, financial, and player-safety reasons why it hasn't happened yet, but there's also a much more shady and nefarious reason, too.

CoachComm, the company that produces the coaching headsets for nearly all of Division I, has developed an additional helmet communication through the CoachComm system already in use. In late November, Grambling and Southern tested the system in their Bayou Classic matchup, and people involved described it as a success. National coordinator of officials Steve Shaw said the rules committee would approve a request for a conference that wants to test any helmet communication system league-wide.

So why hasn’t it happened? The SEC had conversations about it last spring, but there was disagreement among coaches, a source familiar with the conversations said. There’s also a concern about helmet liability and warranty. Sources in each Power 5 conference confirmed there have been brief discussions at some point in recent years in their leagues.

...

Another concern among some SEC coaches wasn’t expressed publicly but has been suspected privately: Headsets would eliminate the ability to steal signals. The concept of stealing signals is an open secret in coaching, and some programs have elaborate operations. In a sport in which most rule changes benefit the offense, this could put the sides on the same level of an issue.

Told of that suspicion, David Shaw said it was comforting to hear someone admit that stealing signals exists. Bielema brought it up as well.

“There are certain places that put a premium on stealing signals, and that gets some people known as great play callers, but you can be a great play caller if you know what the other team is doing,” Shaw said. “For me, this is one of those balancing things. You might not be able to get all the information you want, now you have to call the game with some doubt and trust in your preparation and your players.”

The naive part of me would like to think that "then we can't cheat!" hasn't been the primary hangup on this for the better part of a decade, but unfortunately, I probably know better than to believe that.

In any case, it sounds like there's finally a lot of momentum for this change and I'd be willing to wager we get comms in helmets within five years.

TIGHT END SIZED. After switching to tight end ahead of last season, Gee Scott Jr. didn't see the field much. I'd assume the fact that he weighed 210 pounds as a tight end played a key role in keeping him on the sideline, but it looks like he's doing everything he can to fix that.

Scott had already gained 15 pounds between the start of last season and whenever the roster was updated in February, but it would seem he's added 10 more since then.

235!
— Gee Scott Jr. (@Geescottjr) March 21, 2022

He's still the smallest tight end on the roster, but also no other tight end weighs more than 245. So by my estimation, he's close enough to tight end size.

IF YOU CAN'T BEAT EM... The Buckeye football team (and every other student, for that matter) has been at war with CampusParc since Ohio State sold its soul to the parking desperados a decade ago.

It's not a war that can be won, so TreVeyon Henderson may have found a new approach.

Cant even park at our facility without getting a parking ticket, @CampusParc lets do a NIL deal or some
— TreVeyon Henderson (@TreVeyonH4) March 21, 2022

I respect the hustle, TreVeyon, but I just can't endorse this move.

I have one (1) pleasant memory involving CampusParc, and it involves cheering as one of its vehicles spontaneously burst into flames.

There were two highlights of this ordeal:

1) Another Campus Parc car arriving to help and uh... genuinely thinking he could.

2) everyone at World of Beer cheering when it was announced that it was a Campus Parc car. https://t.co/XO7xdcfX5P
— Kevin Harrish (@Kevinish) May 11, 2018

It's important to note that nobody was physically harmed – it only hurt their pockets.

SONG OF THE DAY. "Babydoll" by Dominc Fike.