Skull Session: Ohio State Football Has Some Hoopers, Will Howard Takes Ohio State’s QB Competition in Stride and Mike Hall Continues to Shine in the Pre-Draft Process

By Chase Brown on March 22, 2024 at 5:00 am
JT Tuimoloau
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Welcome to the Skull Session.

Mark Titus had a great tweet to kick off March Madness.

Have a good Friday.

 WE BALL. In honor of the NCAA Tournament, the Ohio State football media team asked several Buckeyes to name their squad's starting five basketball players.

Some of those lineups are bad. Some of them are good.

But I created the best one.

There's no doubt about it.

PG: Lincoln Kienholz

Before he became a quarterback at Ohio State, Kienholz was a three-sport standout at T.F. Riggs High School in Pierre, South Dakota, and was an all-state honoree in football, basketball and baseball. In his senior basketball season, Kienholz averaged 19.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.8 assists per contest. The 6-foot-3, 207-pound athlete also had several dunks that went viral on social media. 

All of that said, there’s no better person to lead the Ohio State offense on the hardwood.

SG: Jayden Ballard

A Massillon, Ohio, native, Ballard stood out as much on the basketball court as he did on the football field at Massillon Washington High School. Before he enrolled at Ohio State in January 2021, Ballard averaged 17.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game in nine appearances for the Tigers.

"Jayden's different," Massillon basketball coach Josh Hose told Chris Easterling of The Independent three years ago. "He's a different dude. I've never coached a kid with that pure talent and athleticism, but I also think he's way different than people know him. ... He's like a big kid. He's got all this athleticism and all this talent, but he also looks like he's having fun on the court because he is. He plays hard, but he doesn't take it too serious in a good way."

While I’m unsure if Ballard can shoot the ball well (a much-needed trait for a shooting guard), I am confident that the 6-foot-2, 195-pound athlete would be an effective slasher. He would use his impressive speed and quickness to drive the lane and finish at the rim.

SF: Sonny Styles

Styles averaged 9.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game in his junior season at Pickerington Central. He and current Ohio State forward Devin Royal, who averaged 19.1 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game, led the Tigers to a state championship in 2022, fending off then-undefeated Centerville 55-48 to win the title at UD Arena.

Knowing how versatile Styles has been for the football team, he is the perfect choice to play small forward. With a 6-foot-4, 235-pound frame and athleticism through the roof, Styles can match up with all positions – guard or forward – and make plays on both ends of the floor.

PF: JT Tuimoloau

Of the 120+ players on Ohio State’s spring football roster, none had more success on a basketball court than Tuimoloau at Eastside Catholic in Edgewood, Washington. The 6-foot-4, 269-pound defensive end – who was ranked as the No. 3 high school football prospect in the 2021 class – held basketball offers from Oregon and Washington, indicating that he had a legitimate shot to hoop at the Division I level. 

When Tuimoloau started his college football career at Ohio State in July 2021, there were even some rumors that Tuimoloau could be a two-sport athlete for the Buckeyes, contributing to both Ryan Day and Chris Holtmann’s programs.

Long story short, Tuimoloau could ball.

Chances are he still can.

C: Jack Sawyer

At 6-foot-5, Sawyer is the tallest and heaviest Buckeye I’ve included in the starting lineup, which means I’ll have him line up at center. Still, Sawyer is more than a back-to-the-basket five. Before he came to Ohio State, Sawyer was an all-around player for Pickerington Central High School, averaging over 20 points and nine rebounds per game as a sophomore and junior.

OK. That’s it. That’s the five.

Disagree? Argue with a wall.

Moving on.

 A HOME-RUN DERBY PITCHER. Current Ohio State quarterbacks Will Howard and Devin Brown threw passes to former Buckeyes Cade Stover, Xavier Johnson and Sam Wiglusz at the program’s pro day on Wednesday.

After the event, Howard cooled off on a bench next to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center indoor practice field. He didn’t cool off for long, though. Soon after he took a drink of his Gatorade, a collection of reporters, including me, swarmed the signal caller to ask about his performance.

“It was fun,” Howard said. “I kept saying that it was those guys’ day. I was out there to be the home run derby pitcher. That was the analogy I was using. It was fun for me to get time with them.”

Before Wednesday, Howard had never thrown passes to Stover, Johnson or Wiglusz. Still, the former Kansas State quarterback felt comfortable airing out the football to the trio of pass-catchers, even with the dozens of NFL scouts in attendance.

“When they asked me to do it, I said, ‘Absolutely.’ The guys I threw to are really talented,” Howard said. “I never got to throw with Cade or 'X' or 'Wigs.' It was cool to work out with those guys.”

Former Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud threw passes at the Buckeyes’ 2022 and 2023 pro days and returned to Columbus as a spectator in 2024. Stroud said he was impressed with Howard and Brown’s abilities.

"They looked great," Stroud said. "I had the opportunity (in 2022) to throw to Chris (Olave) and Garrett (Wilson). It's good to feel the pressure, quote-unquote, of pro day early so whenever they get theirs, they'll do a great job knowing they have experience doing it. I thought they did an amazing job."

Howard hopes to throw passes at Ohio State’s pro day next March. But before he can do that, the 6-foot-5, 242-pound athlete needs to win an offseason quarterback battle against Brown.

“I feel good about it,” Howard said of the competition. “I’m still taking it day-by-day and not trying to get ahead of myself and look at the end goal, because the day in front of me is what’s most important. … It’s never going to be perfect. Some of the routes we run are a little different (than at Kansas State). The timing is a little different, and I’m getting used to the speed of the guys here. But I think I’m adjusting well.”

The same is true of his relationship with Ohio State’s new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Chip Kelly, whom I saw twirling his whistle and connecting with his former NFL colleagues during pro day.

“The way he coaches and relates to you is cool, and we’re just getting more and more comfortable,” Howard said.

Howard didn’t look… great… in the portions of spring practice open to the media two weeks ago. But that’s not unexpected, considering he is processing a new scheme and working with new teammates. As Howard takes his lumps and settles in, he will also take his competition with Brown in stride.

“We were like, ‘They’ll figure out who the quarterback is today,’” Howard said. “We made that joke. We were just out there having fun. We don’t think about it that way at all. We were just out there competing and trying to help our brothers out that are going to the next level.”

 BABY AARON DONALD. Mike Hall’s stonks are rising.

After a stellar performance at the Senior Bowl, Hall continued his impressive pre-draft process at the Buckeyes’ pro day. 

Hall ran an impressive 4.75-second 40-yard dash (unofficial) at the event. How impressive is that number? Among the 19 defensive tackles who ran the 40 at the NFL Scouting Combine, Braden Fiske (Florida State) recorded the fastest time at 4.78 seconds.

“I felt great running,” Hall said afterward.

The Streetsboro, Ohio, native also recorded a 9-foot-3 leap in the broad jump and 25 reps at 225 pounds on the bench. Those numbers are evidence of Hall’s explosiveness, a trait Hall hopes will be a selling point to NFL teams – especially those who consider him undersized at 6-foot-3, 290 pounds.

I find the idea that teams consider Hall undersized a little silly. Not too long ago, teams had the same concern about Aaron Donald, the recently retired All-Pro defensive tackle from whom Hall’s nickname, “Baby Aaron Donald,” was formed. Donald is 6-foot-1, 284 pounds, and recorded 543 tackles, 176 tackles for loss and 111 sacks in 154 career games for the St. Louis and Los Angeles Rams. 

If Hall even halfway lives up to his nickname – as in, he becomes half the player Donald was – teams should be foaming at the mouth for him!

 FOR ALL THE MARBLES. Last week, Ohio State’s club boxing team competed at the NCBA Regional Tournament in Cincinnati. Four of the five boxers qualified for nationals – tied for the most in program history.

Soon after the tournament ended, coach Nat Shineman emailed me and detailed the performance. He also asked the Eleven Warriors community to support his team as it prepares for nationals in Charlotte, North Carolina:

“This past weekend, Ohio State Boxing had our best performance yet at the regional tournament. Of the four boxers we brought to Cincinnati, three came back with regional championships in the 112-pound female, 156-pound female and 165-pound make divisions. Our 132-pound female finished third but reached nationals as an at-large boxer. Eddie Kubit, our 165-pound male, earned one of the two “Outstanding Boxer” trophies, which were awarded via votes from coaches and officials. Kubit is the first Ohio State boxer to receive this award.

“In the past two years, the support we’ve received from the Eleven Warriors community has been nothing short of extraordinary. In many ways, it has been a defining factor in our ability to participate in the NCBA National Tournament in Charlotte. This year, we are once again asking for donations from the Ohio State community (GoFundMe) to get our team to the national tournament (and, of course, all donations are appreciated). Hopefully, this will be the final year we have to crowdsource funding, as we have presented Ohio State with a request to move up a tier within the school’s rec sports. If the request is granted, we will receive increased funding from the university as a result of our continued success since 2021.”

NCBA Nationals will be held in April at Le Meridien Hotel in Charlotte.

Please consider donating so Kubit and his teammates can compete at the highest level of their sport and make Buckeye Nation proud. I know it would mean a lot to them.

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