Skull Session: Ryan Day Continues His National Media Rounds, Drue Chrisman is a DoorDash Driver in Cincinnati and EJ Liddell is (Almost) Back in Action

By Chase Brown on June 22, 2023 at 5:00 am
Drue Chrisman
Andrew Nelles / USA TODAY Sports
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Brice Sensabaugh will have a dream come true today.

The 6-foot-6, 235-pound small forward from Orlando, Florida, is expected to be a late first or early second-round pick in the 2023 NBA draft after a breakout season for the Buckeyes in which he averaged 16.3 points and 5.4 rebounds per contest as a freshman.

Stay tuned to Eleven Warriors for draft coverage, as our men's basketball beat reporter Griffin Strom will provide updates on Sensabaugh's landing spot and the potential destination for Justice Sueing.

Let's have a good Thursday, shall we?

 A DAY'S WORTH OF MEDIA ROUNDS. Ryan Day has made his rounds with the media in the past few weeks. What started as an interview with Chris Holtmann on More Than Coach Speak became a chat with JD PicKell of On3, then with ESPN's Heather Dinich and finally with ESPN's Greg McElroy. That's enough to make me hesitate writing "finally," as another one could be locked, loaded and posted soon. Who knows?

In today's Skull Session, we'll look at some of Day's comments with McElroy on the former Alabama quarterback's "Always College Football" podcast, including Day explaining what he expects from Ohio State's 2023 coaching staff and roster.

McElroy: "You've tinkered with and changed things throughout the course of the last few years. What do you have up your sleeve this year? I feel like some secrets that were present last year, we don't have as many this year when looking at the version of who you might be this season."

Day: "Well, it starts on defense. Coming out of those last couple of games I know everybody on the defensive side of the ball – there was a lot of progress made there – but the way it ended, you know, it left a sour taste in everybody's mouth. That's something we've looked at hard and tried to identify the areas (that we fell short). Certainly the explosive plays were the ones that jumped off the screen. Jim Knowles will be in the second year and it's significant because we really didn't lose much on that side of the ball. We have a lot coming back, a lot of experience. We've added some new pieces in the transfer portal. We don't do a lot of that, but I think we've added some nice pieces there. A lot of experience on the defensive side of the ball. In year one, you're learning what to do. In year two and year three, you're learning how and why. I think that will matter. We're gonna have to win some games on defense this year.

"On the offensive side, this is one of the most skilled groups I've been around. When you look at receiver depth, when you look at running back depth, when you look at tight end depth – certainly the quarterback room is deep across the board. The deep focus has been on the offensive line. Losing Paris (Johnson Jr.) and Dawand (Jones) and Luke (Wypler), we've had to replace some players. We feel great about our guards, but coming out of the spring we made some good progress there. We will continue to work hard in the weight room here this summer but August will be important. We've added a couple of pieces, some young guys that have done a nice job and also some guys in the portal."

Hi. Hello. That's a lot of words. I wanted to make sure you were still with me.

If you retain any of the quotes above as you consume your morning cup of coffee, click back and forth between the Eleven Warriors website and whatever your boss assigned to you or whatever you're doing at the moment, remember this: The 2023 Ohio State football season "starts on defense."

Those are Ryan Day's words – not mine. With "one of the most skilled" offenses Day has been around in his career, the head coach has determined that the team's destiny will depend on the success of Ohio State's defense in Jim Knowles' second season as defensive coordinator. And he's spot on.

Whether Ohio State starts Kyle McCord or Devin Brown, whether the offensive line looks good or doesn't look good, the Buckeyes' offense will be one of the best in the country. It's too talented not to be. As for the defense, the talent is there, too. It always has been. But will Knowles capitalize on that talent with a scheme that caters to his players' strengths? Will his over-aggressive tendencies cost the team games as they did in 2022? Will his unit deliver when Ohio State needs a stop?

These questions will likely be unanswered until Week 4, when Ohio State travels to South Bend, Indiana, for its first test against Notre Dame. It will then be tested again in Week 7 when it hosts Penn State and then when it visits Ann Arbor, Michigan, for The Game in the season finale. By then, hopefully, all of Buckeye Nation can rest assured that the Silver Bullets are, in fact, back.

 CHRISMAN'S DASH FOR A CAUSE. Former Buckeye and current Cincinnati Bengals punter Drue Chrisman started a second career this summer, cruising around the Queen City and delivering food as a DoorDash driver.

For those who may ask, "Why would an NFL punter need another source of income? Don't NFL players make millions?" Chrisman would explain that the extra cash is not for him. In fact, Chrisman puts the money toward a cause much larger than himself.

Chrisman's charity and good works toward Cincinnati's underprivileged garnered nationwide attention on NFL Network's Good Morning Football and ESPN's NFL Live. DoorDash also sent him a shout-out on Twitter.

Chrisman averaged 47.8 yards per punt for the Bengals last season – good for the 13th-best average in the NFL. At Ohio State, Chrisman averaged 44 yards per punt and placed an impressive 83 kicks inside the opponent's 20-yard line. The Lawrenceburg, Indiana, native was also a two-time semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award, an honor presented to the top punter in college football, and an Academic All-Big Ten honoree.

When looking at Chrisman's Ohio State football bio, one is reminded of two facts about Chrisman's life. He is an expert bottle-flipper, and he once surprised proposal to his now-wife, Avery, at halftime of the 2019 spring game:

Flipping the Field … And Bottles: Last year, Chrisman became a world-renown bottle flipper. And he still is, adding degrees of difficulty and moving targets to his repertoire

A Spring Game Surprise: Chrisman proposed to his now (wife) – Avery Eliason, of Lawrenceburg, Indiana – at halftime of the 2019 spring game in Ohio Stadium. He set it up by acting as the holder in a field goal kicking contest with Avery taking a turn. She was stopped, though, and still on one knee, Chrisman proposed. And Avery said “yes.”

Chrisman seems a good man. I like him. Keep making Buckeye Nation proud, Drue.

 HE'S (ALMOST) BACK. Once upon a time, I was a teacher's assistant for a media, law and ethics course at Ohio State, and E.J. Liddell, a star on the men's basketball team at the time, was one of my students. He was always on time, always respectful, always kind – just an overall Good Dude.

That makes the announcement that Liddell has almost completely returned from the ACL tear he suffered last summer. This workout posted by Greenlight Media features the former Ohio State men's basketball star training at all three levels offensively and even shows Liddell elevating above the rim for a one-handed slam.

 A LOOK AT OHIO STATE'S FUTURE. Step on up folks and learn with Zoltar, the all-knowing, fortune-telling machine. I mean, ESPN's Adam Rittenberg. He doesn't know your future, however, just the future of college football writ large.

In previous Skull Sessions, we've looked at Rittenberg's future power rankings for college football offenses, defenses and quarterbacks. Now, we look at how all of those rankings come together to create an ultimate top 25 rankings for the next three seasons. Georgia checked in as the top team, while Alabama ranked second. But directly behind the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide was Ohio State, one spot ahead of Michigan.

Here is what Rittenberg wrote about the Buckeyes:

2023 Future QB ranking: 2
2023 Future defense ranking: 21
2023 Future offense ranking: 2
2022 Future team ranking: 3

Scouting the Buckeyes: The biggest debate in these rankings was whether to rank Ohio State or Michigan at No. 3. Michigan has beaten the Buckeyes in back-to-back seasons and won the Big Ten each time. The Wolverines' personnel-gathering efforts (traditional recruiting and transfer portal) are improving. But Ohio State still has the better track record at quarterback, overall recruiting and postseason performance. Ohio State has been the only Big Ten team to win College Football Playoff games and largely outplayed Georgia in last year's CFP semifinal before a challenging fourth quarter. The Buckeyes hold a slight edge for No. 3, but improvement on defense is both overdue and necessary. For all the great things coach Ryan Day has done in Columbus, defense has been a challenge with only the 2019 unit truly excelling under his watch. Last year's defense showed improvement before the Michigan and Georgia losses, and a second season under coordinator Jim Knowles should yield success. Knowles has talent at his disposal, especially at linebacker (Tommy Eichenberg, Steele Chambers) and defensive end, where two top-five national recruits (J.T. Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer) are due to blossom. The secondary needs to regain its swagger but has some depth with Lathan Ransom and others.

Offensive excellence is the expectation under Day, whose teams have thrived with different quarterbacks and wide receiver groups. The Buckeyes lose C.J. Stroud but project well at QB with Kyle McCord and Devin Brown in the short term and possibly through 2025. The team lost Raiola's commitment to Georgia but added 2024 quarterback Air Noland, ESPN's No. 47 overall prospect. Ohio State returns the nation's best wide receiver group, led by Marvin Harrison Jr., Emeka Egbuka and Julian Fleming. Wideout should be a strength even after they depart for the NFL, as Ohio State brings in Brandon Inniss and several other notable 2023 recruits, and has two ESPN top-50 players (Jeremiah Smith, Mylan Graham) committed for 2024. The offensive line has some reloading to do this fall, but the long-term outlook remains positive with a group of non-seniors such as center Carson Hinzman. Ohio State needs to sort out the running back spot after a difficult 2022 season, but the talent is both there (TreVeyon Henderson, Miyan Williams, Dallan Hayden) and at tight end.

Ohio State is elite now. Ohio State will be elite next year, and the year after that, and the year after that, and the year after that. Life is good in Buckeye Nation. Hopefully, it keeps getting better.

 SONG OF THE DAY. "Southern Nights" by Glen Campbell.

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