Skull Session: Ohio State Runs to Beat Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Braxton Miller Left a Legacy of Electric Plays and Gabe VanSickle Wins a State Shot Put Title

By Andy Anders on June 3, 2024 at 5:00 am
Noah Studebaker with Ohio State players
Ohio State Dept. of Athletics
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Welcome to the Skull Session.

It's Andy Anders filling in for your usual Skull Session pilot Chase Brown this morning.

Let's have a good Monday, shall we?

 RUNNING FOR A CAUSE. Many reading this by now have heard the inspiring story of Jacob Jarvis, an Ohio State fan who suffers from Duchenne muscular dystrophy and has been close with the team since its legendary run to the 2014 national championship.

Jarvis has been hospitalized for more than a month as his condition has worsened. Per an update from his family, he was transferred to Cincinnati Children's Hospital on Tuesday and is on both a breathing tube and a feeding tube.

While he fights to recover, a group of Buckeye players joined Jarvis' younger brother Noah Studebaker, who also suffers from Duchenne, for the annual Run Out Duchenne 5K in Columbus' Highbanks Metro Park on Saturday.

These stories always give me a helpful dose of perspective. Most individuals afflicted with Duchenne, which is a hereditary disease, are confined to a wheelchair by age 12. The resolve it takes to manage life with such a condition and still come out smiling, and then to help others in your same circumstances is nothing short of incredible. And to fight like Jacob is fighting – it's a reminder to be grateful for what you have.

The 5K run was organized to benefit Duchenne Warriors, the foundation started by Jacob and Noah's family, the Studebakers, which aims to help fight the disease and provide resources to families affected by it.

Those who wish to help Jarvis in his own fight can donate to the GoFundMe page to support his and his family's medical expenses here.

 MILLER TIME. People like to talk about superheroes in sports video games. That is, players who it felt almost unfair to play as because they could take things over through your controller in a heartbeat.

Michael Vick on Madden 04 is perhaps the most legendary example of this. His video game likeness was seemingly able to run around defenses until someone inevitably got open and then bomb a pass 50 yards downfield.

As someone from Ohio whose favorite game of the past decade is NCAA 14, one of my sports video game superheroes growing up was Braxton Miller. The read option was notoriously fun to run against your frustrated friends and Miller's athleticism made him almost unstoppable in that scheme. Or, at least his likeness, because real player names weren't in the game for pre-NIL NCAA reasons (unless you entered them manually).

All this is to ramp up and say that Miller's recently announced induction into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame is more than deserved. Whether at quarterback or wide receiver, he's one of those Buckeyes that always made you sit up at attention whenever the ball got into his hands – because something electrifying could happen at any time.

Miller threw for 5,295 yards and rushed for 3,315 more in his Ohio State career, including an incredible two 1,000-yard rushing seasons while playing quarterback for the Buckeyes in 2012 and 2013. A reminder that sacks are counted in collegiate quarterback rushing stats, folks.

After his move to wide receiver in 2015, Miller hauled in 340 yards worth of passes while adding 261 on the ground. He had 52 passing, 33 rushing and three receiving touchdowns in his career.

 CHECK THE NEW CRIB. Ohio State got a locker room upgrade this offseason and my if these seats don't look comfortable.

Back in #myday all we got was metal. I'd say today's kids are soft but A) I'm still borderline part of their generation and B) I would have taken those facilities when I played my D-IV high school ball in a heartbeat. Throw some Biggie on the headphones whilst I melt into my locker and envision racking up the stats I never recorded. Perfection.

 BATTER HOOPER UP! Ohio State basketball coach Jake Diebler got to throw out the first pitch at the Cleveland Guardians' game against the Washington Nationals on Saturday.

Ohio State Hoops' X account strategically only shared photos of the occasion. Through exhaustive journalistic legwork (I searched "Jake Diebler pitch" on X) I was able to dig up video.

I think the ball bounced into the strike zone, at least? Thankfully Ohio State hired Diebler to coach the orange spheroid sport, not the white one with red seams.

 SHOT THE PUT. Gabe VanSickle is an athlete, ladies and gentlemen.

While a good portion of his teammates in the class of 2024 enrolled at Ohio State early, VanSickle arrived in Columbus this weekend. Before then, however, he tossed a 12-pound hunk of metal an extraordinary distance.

I threw shot put one year, my senior year, in high school. My best throw was 38 feet, 8 inches. I remember being pretty proud of that toss.

I am nothing.

VanSickle won the Division 2 Michigan high school state title in shot put this weekend with a throw of 61-2.

If it wasn't made clear, I'm no expert, but getting a lot of distance on a shot put throw requires great burst, flexibility, strength and technical mastery. Good traits for an offensive lineman to possess, no?

 SONG OF THE DAY. “Juicy” – The Notorious B.I.G. (NSFW)

 ANDY'S ALTERNATE HEADLINES. Well-known rat-hater ticketed for having too many rats... World-record balloon inflation achieved nasally... The Pringle burglar... A spoon to make food taste saltier... Something called Manhattanhenge.

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