Skull Session: Emeka Egbuka Calls Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson “The Best College Football Duo I’ve Ever Seen” and Ohio State’s Offensive Line Continues to Improve

By Chase Brown on September 23, 2024 at 5:00 am
Donovan Jackson
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Welcome to the Skull Session.

Justin Fields > Jim Harbaugh.

Have a good Monday.

 BEST IN AMERICA. With Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson, Ohio State has the best running back duo in college football – and it’s not close. I think so. You think so. Emeka Egbuka thinks so.

“Probably the best college football duo I’ve ever seen,” the star receiver said.

They certainly looked like it on Saturday.

In Ohio State’s 49-14 win over Marshall, Judkins and Henderson combined for 20 carries, 249 yards and four touchdowns. 

“I thought TreVeyon ran hard. I thought Quinshon and even James (Peoples) had some really good runs,” Ryan Day said after the game. “All three of them, I have to give them credit. They all have special abilities. They play well off each other. They’re unselfish, which is the biggest thing you can say about a bunch of guys. They don’t care who gets the credit. They’re all running downhill and playing fast.”

Speaking of running downhill and playing fast, how about Judkins and Henderson slamming the same Marshall linebacker into the turf? Poor Landyn Watson.

While I love Judkins and Henderson as players, I think I love them more as teammates – or even more than that, brothers.

“It’s the brotherhood,” Judkins said of the culture at Ohio State. “Everybody has put blood, sweat and tears into this program. Everybody woke up at 5 in the morning to be in the building and train. It’s because you’re doing it for the person beside you.”

If Judkins and Henderson keep doing that for the person beside them, sign me up.

 LEFT SIDE! STRONG SIDE! The left side of Ohio State’s offensive line is good – dare I say really good? Through three games, Josh Simmons and Seth McLaughlin have looked great, and following Donovan Jackson’s return to the field on Saturday, Simmons and McLaughlin took their performances to another level.

According to Pro Football Focus, Simmons and Jackson were dominant against the Thundering Herd, with each recording above an 80 grade in both run and pass-blocking snaps. Jackson paced the trio in the former, earning an 88 paving paths for Henderson and Judkins, while Simmons took home top honors in the latter, receiving an 84 protecting Will Howard.

When asked about the improvement Ohio State’s offensive line has made this season, Day said McLaughlin has been the room’s pace-setter.

“Seth has done a great job of getting everybody on the same page,” Day said. “He’s like having an NFL center in there. When you go into a meeting, and you say something, he’s got the answer or he’s going to get it fixed in-game. He’s talking to those guys. He’s just a calming presence, I think.”

While Tegra Tshabola and Austin Siereveld didn’t perform at the same level as the trio mentioned above, Day said he was pleased with their performances against Marshall.

“I like seeing them both play,” he said. “I think they both deserve to play. I think you guys saw that both played well in the first couple of games. We’ll see how they graded out. We’ll keep evaluating it. But I don’t think it’s a bad thing to have a young guy get a little bit of a break during a game. If we feel like it gets to a point where they’re not getting in the flow of the game, then we’ll keep a close eye on it, but I like getting those guys in the game and getting them reps.”

As he continued, Day noted that the offensive line still needs to improve as Ohio State enters Big Ten competition.

“Not everything’s perfect. We’re gonna see a lot of different competition moving forward, and that’s just once we get into conference play and down the road,” Day said. “We’re not making any judgments now, but you go off what you see, and you see improvement there, and that’s a good sign.”

No, that’s a great sign.

How Ohio State’s offensive line would look in 2024 was a massive question mark when the season started. But with each week that passes, the Buckeyes look better and better in the trenches.

You love to see it.

 (FAR FROM) SPECIAL TEAMS. Ohio State benched its kicker midgame against Marshall. I’ll have to ask Eleven Warriors researcher Matt Gutridge how often that’s happened since the program’s inception in 1890. I’ll guess its occurrences are few and far between. Nevertheless, it occurred on Saturday!

Ryan Day elected to replace Jayden Fielding with Austin Snyder on kickoffs (and two extra points) during the second half of Ohio State’s 49-14 win over Marshall. Day’s decision came after Fielding booted three consecutive kickoffs out of bounds in the second quarter, allowing the Thundering Herd’s offense to take over possession at their 35-yard line on each subsequent drive.

“We can’t have that. That’s putting our defense in a terrible situation. Having three kicks out of bounds and three drives start at the 35-yard line, that’s completely ridiculous,” Day said. “We have to get that fixed, you know, however we do that.”

Fielding has handled kickoffs for Ohio State since the 2022 season opener. That year, he had 105 kickoffs with 46 touchbacks and three kicks out of bounds. In 2023, Fielding had 77 kickoffs with 45 touchbacks and two kicks out of bounds. Through three games in 2024, he has had 23 kickoffs with 14 touchbacks and three kicks out of bounds.

Given Fielding’s experience and relative success as Ohio State’s kickoff specialist, Day said he wasn’t sure what led to the Texas native’s mistakes on Saturday.

“We’ll evaluate him and see if there was a tweak or something that happened in the hip. Either way, we can’t have that,” Day said. “You get to a point where you want to let somebody play through it, but at another point, you have to make a change. I thought Austin did a nice job of stepping in there and kicking the ball.”

Unfortunately for Ohio State, the special teams mistakes that started with Fielding did not end with Fielding.

Another miscue occurred when Brandon Inniss muffed a punt that Marshall received at Ohio State’s 16-yard line. The Herd, then trailing 14-7, could have put themselves in position to tie the game; however, an illegal formation penalty forced them to redo the punt, which Inniss elected to fair catch at the 14-yard line. On the next snap for Ohio State’s offense, Judkins made an 86-yard house call.

Also – and this could be a nitpick, but I’ll write it regardless – in the final moments of the game, with the Buckeyes leading 49-14 (read: the game was over), 6-foot-7, 255-pound freshman punter Nick McLarty quacked a 30-yard punt from the Ohio State 48-yard line to the Marshall 22. Not landing the ball inside the 20 there (or even the 15, 10 or 5) was another miscue for the special teams unit.

Bottom line, Ohio State’s special teams needs to be better than it was on Saturday, especially after Day has touted the efforts of Rob Keys (the de facto special teams coordinator), James Laurinaitis (kickoffs), Matt Guerrieri (punts) and Brian Hartline and Keenan Bailey (kickoff and punt returns) since the start of August.

 ARCHIE FROM THE TOP ROPE! A lot of people have said a lot of stuff about Ohio State’s national championship expectations this season. Few of those people – wait, let’s be real, none of those people – have words that hold the same weight as two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin.

Before Ohio State and Marshall faced off on Saturday, Griffin appeared on FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff and stood among Urban Meyer, Brady Quinn, Matt Leinart, Mark Ingram and Rob Stone on the set located outside the Shoe. There, Meyer asked Griffin to share his expectations for his alma mater in 2024. The former Ohio State head coach asked, “They are loaded, man, this team. Buckeyes national championship or bust. What do you think?”

“We’re going all the way, baby,” Griffin answered. “You don’t come out here and play to get second place. You want to do the whole thing. I know these guys have worked very, very hard. They’re looking forward to all the opportunities in front of them to take it to the top.”

When I heard Griffin’s response, I wondered if he had pandered to the Ohio State crowd and the national television audience. But then I remembered: Griffin doesn’t pander; he has far too much class. No, Griffin believes the Buckeyes can and will win it all this season.

I like how Griffin thinks.

 SONG OF THE DAY. "Carmen Ohio" - TBDBITL.

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