Skull Session: Brian Hartline Ranks The Top-Five Receivers He's Coached at Ohio State, Paris Johnson Jr. is That Guy and Greg Oden Once Dominated the Manager Games For Men's Basketball

By Chase Brown on April 5, 2023 at 5:00 am
Brian Hartline
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A loud #BOOM echoed through Columbus on Tuesday.

And the sound of popcorn munching?

Let's have a good Wednesday, shall we?

 IS THIS TOP FIVE GOOD? Brian Hartline appeared on a recent episode of Barstool Sports' “Bussin' With The Boys” podcast hosted by Will Compton and Taylor Lewan to discuss many different topics, namely his desire to one day – not today – coach in the NFL or be the head coach of a top college football program.

That specific topic can have its moment in the article we posted on Tuesday, or the discussion can continue in the comments section of this post, whatever floats your boat. Another topic Hartline also discussed on the podcast, one that floats my boat, if you will, is how he ranks the receivers he's coached at Ohio State. Here is his top five:

TOP-FIVE RECEIVERS BRIAN HARTLINE HAS COACHED AT OHIO STATE
RANK PLAYER YEARS AT OHIO STATE STATS AS A BUCKEYE
1 MARVIN HARRISON JR. 2021-pres. 18 G, 88 REC, 1,402 YARDS, 17 TD
2 JAXON SMITH-NJIGBA 2020-2022 23 G, 110 REC, 1,698 YARDS, 10 TD
3 GARRETT WILSON 2019-2021 32 G, 143 REC, 2,213 YARDS, 23 TD
4 TERRY MCLAURIN 2015-2018 44 G, 75 REC, 1,251 YARDS, 19 TD
5 CHRIS OLAVE 2018-2021 38 G, 175 REC, 2,702 YARDS, 35 TD

Is that a good list?

I think that's a pretty good list. It's chock-full of No. 1 receivers and absolute studs.

And to think, that top-five could extend to add the likes of Parris Campbell, K.J. Hill, Johnnie Dixon and Emeka Egbuka, among others. Then you can consider that players like Carnell Tate and five-star recruit Brandon Inniss, who will arrive on campus this summer, haven't even had the chance to establish themselves as Buckeyes quite yet.

Ohio State is Wide Receiver U. At the very least, it is a wide receiver factory, one that runs by virtue of Hartline's recruiting prowess and his knack for developing the top pass-catchers in the country. As his time with the Buckeyes continues, I can't wait to see this list evolve and become even better. Knowing Hartline, that will happen sooner rather than later.

... like with Jeremiah Smith... orrrr Mylan Graham?

 PARIS JOHNSON JR. IS THAT GUY. I once claimed to every Skull Session reader that if I found good content about Paris Johnson Jr., I would share it here. At least, I think I did. I can't remember. If I did, great. Here is some content I promised to deliver. If I didn't, that is still great. Here is some content I didn't promise to deliver but still have for you.

It's a win-win, really.

Paris Johnson Jr. is a dude. His work on and off the field during his three years at Ohio State should be (and hopefully will be) remembered by all who witnessed his greatness in the scarlet and gray. Not only did he shine at guard and tackle for the football program, but he also was a beacon of hope in Columbus and back home in Cincinnati through his work with The Paris Johnson Jr. Foundation.

Johnson talked about his foundation and some other interesting topics on Tuesday's episode of Good Morning Football on the NFL Network:

Of note, Willie Anderson was a standout offensive lineman for Auburn from 1993-95. He later became a three-time first-team All-Pro, one-time second-team All-Pro and four-time Pro Bowler across 13 seasons in the NFL, 12 with the Cincinnati Bengals and one with the Baltimore Ravens. A Bengals Ring of Honor member, Anderson knows a thing or two about football.

Anderson has passed down much of that information, namely how to be a pro on and off the field, to Johnson over the past seven years, making the Ohio State product confident he will thrive at the next level.

For a person like Johnson, I hope he does become the first offensive lineman taken in the draft. Even if it doesn't, he has all the tools to succeed. I have no doubt he will once he straps on the pads for whatever NFL franchise is lucky enough to have him on their roster.

 WHO EVEN IS GREG ODEN? A few weeks back, I touched on an article from The Ringer's Mirin Fader titled "Greg Oden's Long Walk Home," which offered readers a look into Oden's life as a former top-prospect in Indiana, a dominant one-and-done player at Ohio State and No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft.

But that was the stuff anyone who follows basketball collegiately and professionally already knew. Fader also detailed Oden's hardship with addiction to painkillers, his efforts to find peace and his road home to Indiana, specifically Butler University, where he has rekindled his relationship with basketball and his love for the game.

It was a good read – a great read, even. If you didn't have a chance to scroll from start to finish back then, I recommend doing that today. If you did, and want to do that again, here is your opportunity.

I call back to Fader's article because it proved Oden is more than his basketball accolades. That is something I continue to learn about the 7-foot man from Indianapolis. He is an interesting person – far more interesting than you or I could have imagined – and that is evident to me with each new piece of information I learn about him. 

The most recent example of this was an article from ESPN's Jake Trotter that revealed an underground March Madness called "The Manager Games" that takes place behind the scenes of the NCAA Tournament for men's basketball. Apparently, Oden is the best to ever compete in the competition.

What is The Manager Games, you ask? It's a 64-team tournament that student managers from 185 men's basketball programs nationwide attempt to reach. As Trotter describes in his article, "It's a chance for the students – who are the indispensable glue of every college basketball program – to have their own shining moment." That moment comes by competing against student managers from other programs on the hardwood.

Teams selected for the Manager Games postseason tournament are seeded via a mathematical power ranking that Michigan State associate athletic director Kevin Pauga designed when he was a student manager for the Spartans. The first three rounds hinge on Twitter polling. Lower seeds must garner a higher percentage of the vote to pull off the upset. ... Managers still have the option to decide games in the first three rounds on the hardwood instead.

After those first three rounds are decided, the teams of student managers travel to wherever the Final Four takes place to determine who will advance from the Elite Eight to the national title. Teams to compete in 2022-23 included Michigan, Michigan State and Notre Dame.

To reach the coveted championship game, student managers often stack their teams with "ringers" of graduate assistants, strength coaches, video coordinators and operations staffers. Oklahoma State once had former All-Big 12 guard Keiton Page and Florida once had All-SEC forwards Taureen Green and Lee Humphrey, both of whom were on the back-to-back national championship-winning Gators teams in 2006 and 2007.

But there has been no better ringer, Trotter contested through information from his sources, than Ohio State's Oden.

The most legendary Manager Games ringer, though, remains Oden, who, along with future NBA All-Star Mike Conley, led Ohio State to the national championship game against those Gators in 2007. Oden was a graduate assistant with the Buckeyes before joining Butler's staff last year.

"He dropped 50 on us," Purdue manager Bailey Good said of the 7-foot Oden, "and didn't even break a sweat."

That rocks.

Greg Oden Lore continues to grow. The more I hear, the more I love, and I can only hope for more in the future.

 IN CHRIS HOLTMANN WE TRUST. With Jacy Sheldon, Cotie McMahon, Taylor Thierry and company back with Ohio State women's basketball next season, the Buckeyes checked in at No. 8 in ESPN's way-too-early top 25 poll for 2023-24. That was quite the (deserved) vote of confidence in Kevin McGuff's squad.

After the men's basketball season ended Monday with UConn as national champions, ESPN's Jeff Borzello released the same poll for the men's side. Borzello gave some praise to Ohio State, which will return Bruce Thornton, Felix Okpara and Roddy Gayle Jr. and add a top-10 recruiting class in 2023. However, it was not the same seal of approval offered to the women's squad.

As of April 2023, Chris Holtmann and Ohio State are on the outside looking into the top 25, according to ESPN, as Borzello placed the Buckeyes in the "Next in Line" category with Boise State, Wisconsin, Kansas State and Auburn.

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