Skull Session: Luke Fickell Has "No Doubt" He Would Beat Mike Vrabel in Wrestling, Justin Scott is an "Impact Commit" in 2024 and Nadine Muzerall Helps Coach the Blue Jackets

By Chase Brown on July 7, 2023 at 5:00 am
Luke Fickell
Joe Rondone / The Republic
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Another day. Another BOOM.

Ohio State earned the commitment of four-star cornerback Miles Lockhart on Thursday. The Chandler, Arizona, native is the 18th commitment in the Buckeyes' class of 2024, which features four five-stars, 12 four-stars and two three-stars.

Ohio State's crootin is hot, folks.

Let's have a good Friday, shall we?

 "OH, YEAH. THERE'S NO DOUBT." While I find a potential cage match between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk comical, I would love to see one faceoff in the future: Luke Fickell vs. Mike Vrabel on the mat.

To be clear, I did not develop the idea for a Fickell vs. Vrabel main event. That credit belongs to the Big Ten Network's Brooke Fletcher and former Ohio State linebacker Joshua Perry. Last week, the duo welcomed Fickell on Stadium's "The Rally" show, where they asked the Wisconsin head coach if he could take on Vrabel in a wrestling match.

"Oh, yeah. There's no doubt," Fickell said.

Before Fickell and Vrabel were standouts at Ohio State in the mid-90s, they were both high school stars in football and other sports. Fickell won three state championships in wrestling and collected a 106-0 record in his final three seasons at St. Francis DeSales in Columbus. At the same time, Vrabel played basketball and competed in track and field for Walsh Jesuit near Cleveland.

With Fickell's decorated background in the sport, the 49-year-old believes he would beat Vrabel, 47, in a dual. And even though Fickell, who is 6-foot-4, 245 pounds, admitted it's been years since he's stepped on the mat, which could make defeating a 14-year NFL veteran and 6-foot-4, 261-pound Vrabel difficult, he remains confident that his experience and technique would help him win.

"I know he played 14 years (in the NFL), but his body is beaten up a lot more than mine," Fickell told Fletcher and Perry. "I think that gives me a bit of an advantage. He was more like Joshua. They were basketball and football guys. By nature, those basketball guys can't hang with us wrestlers."

Cast Your Vote

 AN IMPACT PROSPECT. Ohio State football has earned commitments from four five-stars in the class of 2024, including wide receivers Jeremiah Smith and Mylan Graham, quarterback Air Noland and defensive tackle Justin Scott. Of those four future Buckeyes, the worldwide leader in sports has tabbed Scott as the "impact commit" of the bunch.

Here is what ESPN's Tom VanHaaren wrote about Scott this week:

Ohio State: Justin Scott, DT
2024 ESPN 300 rank: 34

Scott is one of the top defensive line recruits in the country and listed as the No. 4 defensive tackle. The Buckeyes didn't have a stout tackle in this class, so adding Scott fills a need on the field, but the ramifications off the field might be what is more important.
Scott was seriously considering Michigan, and it looked as though he might pick the Wolverines at one point. It's always important for Ohio State to win battles on the recruiting trail against its rival, and it is especially important lately – with the Wolverines winning on the field the past two years. Flexing their recruiting muscle and getting a top defensive lineman to add to defensive line coach Larry Johnson's room is a big deal, but beating Michigan is an added bonus.

Scott's name is featured in the impact category with Georgia quarterback commit Dylan Raiola, Alabama quarterback commit Julian Sayin, Florida quarterback commit DJ Lagway and Michigan quarterback commit Jadyn Davis. So for Scott to break into what was otherwise a quarterback-exclusive section speaks volumes of the kind of player defensive line coach Johnson and the Buckeyes landed on Sunday.

To that point, Eleven Warriors football recruiting reporter Garrick Hodge wrote about the "dominant force" Scott will be in Ohio State's defensive trenches after his commitment this past weekend:

It's been a long time since Ohio State landed a defensive tackle with Scott's potential as a playmaker. 

What's more, Scott is so physically gifted, he'd probably be a five-star offensive lineman too, if that's where he'd like to play. For someone of Scott's build, he's exceptionally quick off the line of scrimmage and dominates with both speed and power. His size gives him a rare ability to deflect passes at the line of scrimmage, but his length doesn't hinder his pad level either. 

Scott lined up at multiple defensive line spots for St. Ignatius, and also played left guard on offense. The Chicago product sometimes rushed off the edge in high school, but will make his living on the interior at the next level. Scott diagnoses plays quickly, and is a disruptor in the backfield, often clogging up running lanes and sacking quarterbacks with minimal effort. His motor is relentless, and Scott feasted on often overmatched competition in his league, tossing running backs and quarterbacks around like rag dolls.

Johnson hasn't been afraid to play freshmen defensive linemen that earn playing time in their first year, and it wouldn't be out of the question to see Scott be a contributor in meaningful snaps in year one at Ohio State.

 THE 1870 SOCIETY WANTS YOU. As Ohio State's newest NIL collective, The 1870 Society has discovered ways to revolutionize how fans interact with their favorite Buckeyes. From exclusive events to The Ryan Day Podcast, the for-profit collective has done that in its first three months. But now, the organization will evolve once more.

Beginning July 15, The 1870 Society will launch a video monetization platform through a partnership with video commerce solution providers Firework, Innovative New Media and Urban Edge Network that provide exclusive content from athletes like JT Tuimoloau, Lorenzo Styles Jr., Josh Simmons, Tywone Malone, Kamiah Gibson and Cotie McMahon directly to your computer, tablet or smartphone.

From Andy Wittry on On3:

The 1870 Society president Todd Markiewicz said the collective has partnered with more than 50 Ohio State athletes across 14 athletic programs. He emphasized the platform will feature athletes beyond just Ohio State’s football and men’s basketball programs.

...

Markiewicz said the videos will be 15 to 30 seconds long, featuring day-in-the-life content, such as training, going out to eat or playing video games. Gibson took viewers behind the scenes during a yoga session on an off day and Michalski gave a tour of Ohio State’s indoor practice facility.

“We see ourselves as a content creation company,” Markiewicz said. “We need to create content that drives eyeballs to the website so that people are seeing our subscription packages and people are being entertained at the same time. That way they’ll have a better understanding for how 1870 operates, which is different than others, and see what our values are.

“Hopefully, Buckeye Nation is entertained enough by the content we’re producing that they understand the need in the NIL space to keep Ohio State elite on the field. That’s the end goal. Firework is a great mechanism to help us do that.”

Above all else, the collective's goal for the content is to "built a NIL pot for all coaches and athletes and Ohio State," Markiewicz said, but 1870 needs the Buckeye fans to partner with them in the endeavor.

Memberships to become a part of The Society start at $10 a month for the "Scarlet" package but increase in value to a $5,000 "Buckeye Grove" package. Membership benefits include the videos mentioned above, The Ryan Day Podcast, tickets and pre-game field access to an Ohio State football game and tickets to a "Heisman Lunch" featuring past Ohio State Heisman Trophy winners.

Click here to start your membership today.

 OLYMPIC VILLAGE. Nadine Muzerall traded her Ohio State clothes for Columbus Blue Jackets attire this week as the women's ice hockey head coach instructed NHL players to the Blue Jackets Development Camp at the Chiller North.

Muzerall has successfully overhauled the Ohio State women's ice hockey program in recent years, placing the Buckeyes in the elite company of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Minnesota-Duluth and Clarkson by winning a Frozen Four national championship in 2022 and finishing runner-up to the Badgers in 2023.

Ohio State's recent success put Muzerall on the map locally and nationally, resulting in her receiving a camp invite from Columbus Blue Jackets legend and current director of development Rick Nash.

"I'm very humbled to be here and have been asked by Rick Nash to come out and join the boys,” Muzerall told Kellyanne Stitts of ABC6 in Columbus. “I’m really excited for the Blue Jackets this year. There seems to be a lot of talent on the ice, and I know that they have a vengeance to regain some wins.”

Muzerall added that she sees her opportunity to coach the Blue Jackets as a crucial step toward the growth of women's ice hockey in the United States and beyond:

"As a woman coaching in a dominant men's game, I think it's a good stepping stone to maybe get our fingerprint on what the future can look like for women (in this sport) and the opportunities it's providing," Muzerall said.

Muzerall also used her opportunity as a guest coach to offer an Ohio State welcome to Columbus for former Michigan forward Adam Fantilli, whom the Blue Jackets selected with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2023 NHL draft on June 28.

Great work, Coach Muz – not only for paving the way for the future of women's sports with the Blue Jackets but also for showing Fantilli that he's no longer in Ann Arbor. This is Columbus, the heart of Buckeye Nation. No maize and blue here, please.

 SONG OF THE DAY. "Back In Black" by AC/DC.

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