Welcome to the Skull Session.
It's another Ohio State Hoops gameday.
Need @TheSchott packed for our first game of 2024
— Ohio State Hoops (@OhioStateHoops) December 31, 2023
We take on Rutgers as we return home Wednesday, January 3.
Tickets: https://t.co/IISgRaTPGg pic.twitter.com/4qr75ne2Sa
Let's have a good Wednesday, shall we?
WILL HOWARD, EVERYONE. With Kyle McCord's departure for Syracuse and both incomplete and inconsistent performances from Devin Brown and Lincoln Kienholz in the Cotton Bowl, Ohio State could look to the transfer portal for its next quarterback.
The name often linked to Ohio State is former Kansas State quarterback Will Howard. Before the Buckeyes' 14-3 loss to Missouri last week, a source told Eleven Warriors that Ohio State had been in contact with the 6-foot-5, 242-pound signal-caller.
A second-team All-Big 12 honoree for the Wildcats, Howard operated at a level below McCord in 2023. Howard completed 61.3% of his passes for 2,643 yards, 24 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, compared to McCord's 65.8% completion rate, 3,170 yards, 24 scores and six picks.
However, I will mention that Howard's weapons weren't Biletnikoff Award winner Marvin Harrison Jr., Emeka Egbuka, Julian Fleming, Cade Stover and TreVeyon Henderson. I will also mention that Howard carried the ball 81 times for 351 yards and nine touchdowns in 2023, and he recorded 226 carries for 921 yards and 19 scores across four seasons at Kansas State. That dual-threat nature allowed him to excel in the zone read and RPO tactics that were once a prominent feature in the Ohio State offense.
To some extent, Howard looks like a more refined version of Brown, who suffered a broken bone and multiple ankle sprains when he attempted to achieve that same refinement. While Brown's ailments are no fault of his own, the setbacks nonetheless contribute to another uncertain offseason at quarterback for Ohio State, which could lead the Buckeyes to pursue Howard's services.
Before Ohio State's pursuit occurs (or, perhaps more accurately, continues), here's an important question: Would Howard come to Ohio State without a guarantee to be QB1 next season? Maybe he would, maybe he wouldn't. After all, Day did not offer the same assurance to McCord earlier this month, and now McCord will complete his college career in central New York.
And another important question: Would an offer for Howard to come in and compete with Brown, Kienholz and incoming five-star Air Noland feature an NIL package that makes sense for all involved? Maybe it would, maybe it wouldn't.
Over the next few weeks, Day needs to reshape the future of Ohio State football. At the center of that will be what to do about Howard. The same dilemma that existed at the quarterback position on Monday exists on Wednesday: Transfer portal or no transfer portal? Will Howard or no Will Howard?
The answer to both could be the difference between a breakthrough year after three consecutive seasons of heartbreak or more of the same in 2024.
ON THE MOVE. In the Tuesday Skull Session, I looked at where each member of Ohio State's 2021 class stands at the end of the 2023 college football season. While many of them will either return for another season with the Buckeyes or enter the 2024 NFL draft, many others are on different teams.
That examination made me wonder how well Ohio State's top classes have held up over the past few seasons. I also wondered, with those classes, how the Buckeyes crumbled in the Cotton Bowl without Kyle McCord, Marvin Harrison Jr., Julian Fleming, Chip Trayanum, Tommy Eichenberg and a few other main contributors from the regular season.
My wonder ended when I remembered Noah Rogers entered the transfer portal on Sunday.
Rogers, the No. 53 player in the 2023 class according to the 247Sports composite, became the second four-star freshman wide receiver to enter the portal after the Cotton Bowl. Bryson Rodgers, the No. 357 overall prospect, entered a few hours earlier.
Then I remembered Kaleb Brown (No. 79) and Caleb Burton (No. 132) departed the program for Iowa and Auburn in April 2023. That created a total of four top wide receiver prospects to leave Columbus in under nine months.
Now, it's possible that Rogers, Rodgers, Brown and Burton would never have made an impact at Ohio State. Brown and Burton were buried behind Harrison, Emeka Egbuka and Fleming in 2022. Rogers and Rodgers were buried behind the same trio in 2023 – plus Carnell Tate and Brandon Inniss, who received more opportunities in the regular season and the Cotton Bowl.
Yet, the departure of each wide receiver reminds me of the reasons many in Buckeye Nation were critical of Ohio State's 2023 and 2024 classes (and earlier classes, for that matter): The third and fourth elite prospect Brian Hartline adds at wide receiver mean less and less if Ohio State settles for one or fewer elite prospects at other positions on the field.
Looking at you, offensive line.
Looking at you, defensive line.
While Ohio State has landed decent recruits in the trenches, the Buckeyes have often missed on their top targets: Kadyn Proctor, Chase Bisontis, Keon Keeley, Matayo Uiagaleli and Damon Wilson, among others, in 2023; Jordan Seaton, Brandon Baker, Justin Scott (flipped from Ohio State to Miami), Dylan Stewart and Marquise Lightfoot, among others, in 2024.
In the player-empowerment, free-movement, free-transfer era, Ohio State's recruiting class rankings are more temporary than ever. Yes, the Buckeyes ranked in the top five in each of the past three seasons, but how much of that has to do with the receivers and quarterbacks Hartline and Ryan Day add year after year?
Answer: A lot.
To be clear, Hartline and Day should not alter their respective recruiting approaches. Add all the four and five-star prospects to those rooms possible, please and thank you. But when one takes those prospects out of the equation, it's clear that Ohio State's classes needed more elite talent at other positions.
Moving forward, Day and his staff must ensure that other positions – such as offensive line and defensive line – live up to the same standard. That's easier said than done, of course, but it will remain crucial if Ohio State is to bounce back from three consecutive seasons with losses to Michigan, zero Big Ten championships and zero national championships.
FIELDS AND MARV? According to Matt Miller of ESPN, 14 college football players deserve "true first-round grades" in 2024. Miller broke down each of them in an article last week, including Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr.
- QB Caleb Williams (USC)
- QB Drake Maye (UNC)
- QB Jayden Daniels (LSU)
- WR Marvin Harrison Jr. (Ohio State)
- WR Rome Odunze (Washington)
- WR Malik Nabers (LSU)
- WR Keon Coleman (Florida State)
- TE Brock Bowers (Georgia)
- OT Olu Fashanu (Penn State)
- OT Joe Alt (Notre Dame)
- OT Tyler Guyton (Oklahoma)
- DE Dallas Turner (Alabama)
- DE Laiatu Latu (UCLA)
- DT Jer'Zhan Newton (Illinois)
Marvin Harrison Jr.
Comp: A.J. Green
Harrison – the son of NFL Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison Sr. – has rare traits, including great size (6-foot-4, 205 pounds), body control, agility and flexibility, along with the fastest hands this side of Tyreek Hill. You don't often see big wide receivers show the flexibility and body control that Harrison does in order to get low to snag ground balls. And he's consistently making plays that show off an elite catch radius. He has accumulated nearly 2,500 receiving yards and 28 TDs over the past two seasons, despite defenses knowing the ball is going his way.
Harrison could become a top-three pick in the draft depending on how the draft order looks after Week 18 in the NFL. The Chicago Bears (thanks to a 2023 trade with the Carolina Panthers) have already secured the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.
With the recent performances of Justin Fields, many believe the Bears could draft Harrison and create a Buckeye-to-Buckeye, QB1-to-WR1 connection in Chicago. Former NFL head coach Rex Ryan is one of them. On ESPN's "Get Up," Ryan said the connection could make the Bears championship contenders in 2024.
An all-time Ohio State quarterback with an all-time Ohio State wide receiver?
Yes, please.
MAMMA MIA... Here we go again.
Since I took over the Skull Session in August 2022, I've written about Ohio State, the NHL and the Columbus Blue Jackets scheduling a Stadium Series or Winter Classic game at the Shoe mmmmmmmmm three times.
Each time, someone from Ohio State, the NHL or the Columbus Blue Jackets claims the event can happen, but the ball remains in the court of the other two parties.
First, it was the Buckeyes looking for the Blue Jackets to compensate them for stadium modifications. Then, it was the CBJ looking for the NHL to foot the bill. Now, it would appear the Buckeyes and the Blue Jackets are of the same mind (whatever that entails), and the NHL will decide whether "The Good Old Hockey Game" will occur inside "The House That Harley Built."
From Colin Gay of The Columbus Dispatch:
Ohio State wants to do it right.
“I think people heard about the challenges and they interpreted that as resistance,” (Ohio State associate VP of business advancement Xen) Riggs said. “And it was only resistance because we want it to be a great event. We want it to work. But a willingness to do it? What possible reason would we have to not want to do it?”
To host an event such as the Winter Classic at Ohio Stadium, Riggs and executive associate athletic director of internal operations Mike Penner said they would need to “winterize” the facility.
The focus of that effort would be heat tracing: wrapping water pipes in electric wire to prevent freezing, expanding and possibly bursting in colder weather. Ohio State has such a system in place on the west side of Ohio Stadium for the club level, but Penner and Riggs confirmed that needs repair. And the university would ideally want to winterize all the pipes, including water lines running from C deck to the ground.
According to Penner, Ohio State is “working toward a heat trace system a little bit at a time.” Riggs said the project was estimated to cost at least $8 million in a study conducted by the university five years ago.
But the winterization of Ohio Stadium could have an impact beyond the opportunity to host outdoor hockey.
“One of the things we talked about is any expense we’d have to go through to ‘winterize’ – and it’s more of the heat tracing than anything – is that worth it for one event?” Riggs said. “Well, now we’re in a place where we’ve got to be ready for a potential playoff game with football.”
Later in the article, Gay reported that a Winter Classic game at Ohio Stadium is not "imminent." However, all three parties – Ohio State, the NHL and the Blue Jackets – are interested in exploring the idea further.
Moreover, Ohio State and the NHL are on "friendly terms."
“At the end of the day, it’s really up to the league,” Riggs said. “We have to agree, the Blue Jackets have to agree. And we’re both willing. So it’s really up to (the league).”
Come on, Commissioner Bettman. The best game you can name in the best stadium you can name? That sounds like a dream.
SONG OF THE DAY. "Mamma Mia" - Abba.
CUT TO THE CHASE. CFP 1.0 changed college football, not all for better, and was necessary step in postseason evolution... Series of small explosions, no injuries reported after 1.7-magnitude quake in New York... The New Year offers a clean slate for long-elusive resolutions... "Steamboat Willie" Mickey Mouse is in a horror movie trailer. Blame the public domain... How Mayim Bialik lost her role as the main host of "Jeopardy!".
