Welcome to the Skull Session.
Ohio State has the best wide receiver room in America. Hands down.
Keep your eyes on these @MarvHarrisonJr + @EgbukaEmeka named to the Biletnikoff Award Watch List pic.twitter.com/SpAfBSea19
— Ohio State Buckeyes (@OhioStAthletics) August 7, 2023
Let's have a good Tuesday, shall we?
A CUT ABOVE. Ohio State has one of the best rosters in college football – up there with the Georgias and Alabamas of the sport. There's another talented team that hails from Ann Arbor, but we don't have to talk about them here. Not today, at least.
What makes Ohio State's roster stand out from its FBS counterparts is its top-end talent. Wide receivers Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka, linebacker Tommy Eichenberg and defense end JT Tuimoloau are among the best players in college football, which was proven last week when all four Buckeyes were named to Pro Football Focus' top 50 college football players ahead of 2023.
Here is where each of those players ended up in the rankings and what PFF's Max Chadwick wrote about the Ohio State stars:
No. 3 - WR Marvin Harrison Jr.
As the son of one of the 10 greatest receivers in NFL history, Harrison had big shoes to fill. If his sophomore year was any indication, [a future] Marvin Harrison III [would] have impossible hype to live up to.
Harrison was both the highest-graded (90.2) and most valuable wide receiver in the country last season, according to PFF’s wins above average metric. Against single coverage, Harrison’s 878 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns were the most among all FBS receivers. By the time the 2024 draft rolls around, Harrison could go down as one of the best receiver prospects in recent memory.
No. 17 - WR Emeka Egbuka
While Egbuka is the secondary option on his own team, don’t let that fool you: He’d be the top receiver for any other school in the country. Among returning Power Five receivers, only teammate Marvin Harrison Jr. tallied more receiving yards and touchdowns than Egbuka last season. The junior is also the second-most valuable returning receiver, according to PFF’s wins above average metric.
No. 20 - LB Tommy Eichenberg
No linebacker in the country defends the run better than Tommy Eichenberg. Last season, his 49 run-defense stops tied for the lead among Power Five linebackers and his 20 tackles for loss or no gain tied for second. He was named a PFF first-team All-American for his efforts in 2022 and was the third-most valuable linebacker in the country, according to PFF’s wins above average metric.
No. 40 - DE JT Tuimoloau
If you want to see what Tuimoloau is capable of, turn on his tape against Penn State from 2022. In that contest, the sophomore earned a career-high 93.5 grade while recording two sacks, two interceptions (one of which he returned for a touchdown), a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, a tackle for loss, a batted pass and three pressures. If he gets more consistent as a junior, he could be a top-10 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
A few weeks back, PFF released its preseason All-Big Ten teams, which of course featured Harrison, Egbuka and Eichenberg as first-team honorees and Tuimoloau as a second-team honoree.
The Buckeyes also had Matthew Jones, Tyleik Williams, Denzel Burke, Lathan Ransom and Jesse Mirco named to the second team and TreVeyon Henderson, Miyan Williams, Julian Fleming, Donovan Jackson, Mike Hall Jr. and Jack Sawyer named to the third team. Ohio State's 15 total selections beat out Michigan's 14 for the most in the conference.
Remember what I said about top-end talent? Yeah, Ohio State has a lot of it.
If Ryan Day can answer some questions before the season starts, including a decision between Kyle McCord and Devin Brown at quarterback, which five players will start on the offensive line and how Ohio State's defense will improve in Jim Knowles' second year, the Buckeyes will be in excellent shape in 2023.
JOEL KLATT'S PICKS. The AFCA Coaches Poll was released by USA TODAY Sports on Monday. Georgia, Michigan, Alabama, Ohio State and LSU were the nation's top-five teams, followed by USC, Penn State, Florida State, Clemson and Tennesee.
As the poll dropped at noon, Fox Sports' Joel Klatt was on a YouTube livestream revealing his top 25 college football teams ahead of 2023. His poll looked a little different than the college coaches, with Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, Alabama and Penn State as his top-five teams.
In his explanation of the Buckeyes at No. 3, Klatt made some interesting points about the upcoming season for Ohio State, including his prediction that Kyle McCord will beat out Devin Brown in the team's quarterback competition.
"This Ohio State team is excellent. ... There's immense pressure on Ohio State this year, namely Ryan Day, and I get it. When you're at Ohio State. You've got to beat Michigan, you've got to win the Big Ten and you've got to go and compete for and potentially win national championships. When you look at what Ohio State has done under Ryan Day, they have completely dominated everybody except for Michigan and in the playoff. That has to start to change.
"When you look at this team, here's what I see. I see a team that is a little better than they were a year ago, except for the quarterback. That's the only unproven position. Everywhere else, I could argue they are better. The offensive line – it can be a discussion – but having seen them in spring ball, I think that this offensive line will be pretty darn good. TreVeyon Henderson should be more healthy. They should get more out of the run game. They've got the best wide receiver tandem and the country with Emeka Egbuka and the best player in college football Marvin Harrison Jr. Their defense should be much better than they were a year ago when they couldn't get stops late in the game against Michigan and against Georgia. This is a good football team.
"Why am I not worried about their quarterback? It's a good question. I think it's going to be Kyle McCord. Ryan Day has played it close to the vest. But when you look at the history of Ryan Day, here's what you see. He's had one-year quarterbacks almost his entire career. If you go back to his time at Boston College, or even through the NFL, even early at Ohio State, he had one year with a guy and then had to move to the next guy. The first quarterback that he had for a second year was Justin Fields. Then he had a second year with C.J. Stroud. Both of those guys, obviously very talented, had great first seasons. When you average out the first season under Ryan Day, it's about 41 total touchdowns and five interceptions. Kyle McCord will play behind an Ohio State offensive line with TreVeyon Henderson in the backfield and Marvin Harrison on the outside. How do you think he's going to do, Joel? Pretty damn good. I just don't see a scenario in which Kyle McCord is the problem for Ohio State. Their big question is can they handle the physicality of Michigan and the physicality of Georgia?"
That's an A1 breakdown from Klatt on Ohio State. And a friendly reminder that Klatt spent time with Day a few weeks ago for his “Big Noon Conversations” podcast, so maybe his assertions about McCord are factual, though Klatt said Day kept his opinion of the competition close to the vest.
Whether McCord or Brown is named the starter, the Buckeyes are well-equipped to win many football games in 2023. As Klatt puts it, the question remains: Will Ohio State have the toughness to hang with Michigan and Georgia, two of the most physical teams in college football? I sure hope so because I don't know what Buckeye Nation will do if they don't.
INTRODUCING “COLD TALKS.” After a preseason practice last week, the Ohio State football media team handed walk-on cornerback Andrew Moore a small microphone and asked him to interview his teammates as the Buckeyes sat in post-workout ice baths. Here is the video that came from it:
pt.1 pic.twitter.com/OpJ5uDGT0I
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) August 6, 2023
And here are the results from Moore's question, “Which Ohio State player has the best on-field drip?” And for the old heads out there, “drip” is used to describe someone's appearance as cool or fashionable.
- Marvin Harrison Jr. (4 votes)
- Mitchell Melton, Davison Igbinosun, Jordan Hancock, Denzel Burke, Emeka Egbuka, Josh Proctor, Matt Jones, Mike Hall, Xavier Johnson and Jyaire Brown (1 vote)
Marvin Harrison Jr. is more than Ohio State's MVP. He is also the Buckeyes' coolest, most fashionable player – and it's not particularly close, either. Most of the players who received a vote voted for themselves. Harrison received four votes and he wasn't even in the video.
Another part of the video I found hilarious was the quick cut to sophomore wide receiver Kyion Grayes, who was munchin' on some pickles to build up some post-practice electrolytes. Moore asks Grayes, "How are those pickles?" Grayes answers, "Magnificent." The fact that the moment was left in the video made me laugh out loud. That's an excellent job out of the media team.
“WE'LL HAVE TO ADJUST.” With all the commotion about how conference expansion will impact the future of college football and television deals between leagues and media companies, some areas affected by realignment have been overlooked by the powers that be.
On Sunday, Alabama head coach Nick Saban expressed sadness over how conference expansion could (and probably will) end rivalries and college football traditions that have existed since the sport's inception. Saban shared his concern that an athlete's well-being is no longer a priority for those in charge – rather, the all-powerful United States dollar is all that matters.
"There's a lot of traditions that we've had for a long time in college football. I think we're in a time of evolution for whatever reasons. Some of those traditions are going to get, sort of, pushed by the wayside, I think. It's sad. ... Whether it's good, bad or indifferent for college football – I guess you have to define what is good and bad for college football. I think one thing I would just hope that we would keep in mind in all the choices and decisions we make relative to what we do in college athletics is the student-athlete. They're here to get an education. We try to help them develop careers on and off the field. Hopefully, some of the choices and decisions that we make for college athletics in the future will impact them in a positive way. I hope that we can keep that a priority in terms of whatever we decide to do in the future with college football and college athletics."
Saban's points are valid. However, as a head football coach, Saban will hardly feel the impact of these monumental shifts in conference realignment. Instead, coaches from sports like basketball, baseball, softball, lacrosse and more will carry the heaviest of weight from expansion, especially coaches at schools in the Big Ten, which will have member schools stretching from coast to coast starting in 2024.
One of those coaches will be Chris Holtmann, who spoke over the weekend about how his program will deal with the additions of USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington come the 2024-25 season. From The Athletic's Brian Hamilton and Brendan Quinn:
Twice now, Chris Holtmann has attended a massive leadership conference in a northwest suburb of Chicago. Twice now, the Ohio State men’s basketball coach has left the event with the world looking significantly different than it did before, and not because the keynote speaker delivered a bolt of enlightenment.
The lightning strikes instead came from far away and high above: First, UCLA and USC stretching the Big Ten to the West Coast. This time, Oregon and Washington swelling it even more. Conference realignment heaves, a totally reshaped basketball landscape and some bemusement from one of the guys left to deal with it.
“I did think the wheel was slowing down a little bit, when it comes to conference realignment, and clearly it’s not,” Holtmann told The Athletic on Friday. “It’s a little bit like NIL and the transfer portal: This is the way of life now. We’ll have to adjust.”
As usual, the idea that the Big Ten’s new West Coast quadrant will play sports other than football was a cute afterthought in all the chaos Friday, even though it represents the hardest and most urgent thing to figure out in all of this.
...
As one league coach put it: The Big Ten can’t schedule a long trip out West and then a home game to follow in a short order — because every coach will view the home game as more important, and a condensed turnaround might mean a group doesn’t have its legs for the night it really wants to be at its best. “This league is going to be so hard and so crazy, coaches just want a fair chance,” the coach said. “Don’t let some sort of scheduling take me out of a chance to win basketball games.”
“Certainly the argument could be, hey, they’re young guys,” Holtmann says. “But any of us who’ve looked at sleep studies and travel and nutrition and how that impacts performance over a long period of time — it has a real impact. NBA teams will tell you that. College teams would tell you that. That’d probably be my only question for those of us outside of football.”
To adopt from Stephen A. Smith, here is how the Big Ten would (probably) prefer to answer Holtmann's proposed question behind closed doors: "We are here to tell you right now, Chris. We don't care. We don't care."
Every sport not called football was a "cute afterthought" in the conference realignment process. They will remain that way as conference executives, school presidents and chancellors and athletic directors have media companies – as Kendall (Jeremy Strong) from "Succession" says – stuff their mouths "with so much money they'll s— golden figurines."
It's an unfortunate reality. But that is the reality, which is the only one that matters.
SONG OF THE DAY. "Hysteria" by Def Leppard.
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