Skull Session: Buckeyes Could Land Another Five-Star Receiver, Ohio State Dominates NIL Game, and Jack Sawyer Gets a New Truck

MOOD:

fight to the end

@ParisJohnsonJr pic.twitter.com/uLeWvetpPH
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) June 20, 2022

I like to think that's what I look like when I work out. Nobody tell me if I'm wrong.

Word of the Day: Incubus.

DOUBLE-BARRELLED BOOM? You know what's better than landing a five-star receiver? Landing two five-star receivers.

After securing a commitment from Carnell Tate yesterday, Brian Hartline's now going for five-star receiver No. 2 with Brandon Inniss. And things are looking good!

“To have Carnell on the same field with me is great because not only do I have another good person I can compete with every day, but it also makes defensive coordinators focus on someone other than me,” Inniss told The Athletic on Monday, about an hour before Tate announced he was committing to Ohio State over offers from Notre Dame, LSU and Tennessee.

“I can definitely see us playing together (at the next level),” Inniss continued. “We saw it this past seven-on-seven season with SFE. We were saying, ‘Just imagine us in college — that’s something to look out for.’”

...

Inniss, who plays at Plantation American Heritage in Fort Lauderdale, hinted Monday his college commitment could come soon. His only other official visit was to Alabama.

“I went to Ohio State two times before (my official visit last weekend). So I’ve seen everything from a football standpoint,” said Inniss, who previously took an unofficial visit to Ohio State with Tate in early April. “What I liked most at Ohio State this past weekend was the players didn’t treat me like a recruit. They treated me like I was part of the team already the two nights I was there. That was the highlight of the visit.”

I mean, why the hell not?

At this point, it feels like Brian Hartline gets to just look at a recruiting class, call dibs on the few guys he wants, and then everyone else just has to fight for what's left. And I'm here for it!

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER CAR. While QB1 is out here snagging $200,000 G Wagons, Jack Sawyer is getting his, too – with something equally fitting of his personality.

Behold:

Proud to announce that Jack Sawyer is now officially #PoweredByRicart in his new Lifted and Rabid Customized Ford F250 Diesel. A fitting truck for a defensive force. Local Company with a Local Player! @jacksawyer33 @ricart #NIL pic.twitter.com/GifLx531M5
— Rick Ricart (@RickRicart) June 20, 2022

Everything about that truck screams Star Defensive End From Pickerington, so congrats to Ricart and the Rabid Customs crew for absolutely nailing that.

KINGS OF NIL. Like it or not, NIL is here to stay. So Ohio State has no choice but to be damn good at navigating it.

The good news is, they've done just that. In fact, there's been nobody better.

Ohio State athletes have surpassed 1,000 NIL deals in year one, per @OSUNIL_

The Buckeyes have ranked 1st in:

NIL compensation
Number of athletes with least one NIL deal pic.twitter.com/TY1pIIuT6W
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) June 19, 2022

So while you see all that shit about the NIL collective money getting tossed around at schools like Tennessee and Texas A&M (sorry, allegedly getting tossed around) to effectively buy commitments, the Buckeyes are still king.

GO LONG. I know that this is going to come as an absolute shock to you, but as it turns out, the best deep ball quarterbacks in the Big Ten have all been at Ohio State and coached by Ryan Day.

Most deep touchdowns in a season for a Big Ten QB since 2014

Justin Fields (19): 20
C.J. Stroud (21): 18
Dwayne Haskins (18): 17 pic.twitter.com/lzJNXDAPew
— PFF College (@PFF_College) June 20, 2022

This is since 2014 because that's when PFF started tracking it, but I'm going to boldly suggest that these are probably the all-time numbers too, because I don't think that many teams of Big Tens past were slinging more than 17 deep balls a season.

It's also wild that Ohio State has suddenly turned into the absolute standard for passing offense when about 10 years ago the team's leading receiver for the season had 14 catches and the quarterback threw for fewer than 100 yards in 75 percent of the games.

C.J. Stroud threw for more than 400 yards last season more often than Braxton Miller threw for 100 yards in 2011, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba had more catches in *two* separate single games last season than any receiver had the entire 2011 season.

The game has changed.

SONG OF THE DAY. "Summer of 69" by Bryan Adams.