Welcome to the Skull Session.
Denzel Ward is incredible on and off the field...
We are proud to announce that this year's Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee is Denzel Ward!
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) December 5, 2024
Denzel and his mom, Nicole, have done amazing work with their @MTKYN_ Foundation to promote heart health.
Read more https://t.co/1t8V5Xe0OW@Nationwide | #WPMOY pic.twitter.com/PMJt2wd3x0
Have a good Friday.
365 DAYS OF PAIN. Former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer – a title he will continue to hold, according to a statement he released Thursday – discussed The Game on a recent episode of his podcast, The Triple Option, with Mark Ingram and Rob Stone. More specifically, Meyer discussed what it’s like to lose The Game, even if he never experienced that while leading the program from 2012-18.
Losing The Game is 365 days of pain. But it's time for #OhioState to regroup and refocus NOW! #CFBPlayoff pic.twitter.com/mvmGrdn6J1
— The Triple Option (@3xOptionShow) December 4, 2024
“When you lost that game – and I remember Woody Hayes distinctly saying, and Earle Bruce would say it to me – it’s 365 days of pain,” Meyer said. “You have to live with that. Here’s the reality now: That’s somewhere in you, but you have to get it out because you have a playoff to go to. Back in the day, you’d lose that game, you’d go to some bowl game you wish you weren’t at, and it’d be misery. You have to regroup now, and I mean, like, now.
“ Give them 24 hours. … Don’t stand up in front of the team when you win; that’s not hard to do. What’s hard to do is when you get punched square in the mouth – you are hurting, you are bleeding, your guts are laying on the floor – and you have to pick them up, grab each other and go. If they don’t do that, they’ll lose.”
Ryan Day talked a lot about regrouping on Wednesday.
“As much as this hurts, we get a chance to go play for the national championship,” Day said. “It’s almost like the NFL. You think about teams in the Wild Card who get that first win and get some momentum going to win the whole thing. That’s all out in front of us. We have plenty of good enough players to go do that.”
Since 1980, seven Wild Card teams won Super Bowls: The Oakland Raiders (1980), Denver Broncos (1997), Baltimore Ravens (2000), Pittsburgh Steelers (2005), New York Giants (2007), Green Bay Packers (2010) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2020).
Why not Ohio State in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff?
“It’s gonna come down to leaders,” Day said. “We’ve had good conversations. I think the guys are moving in (a positive) direction. I know we want to know what the next target is, and we’ll get that on Sunday, but there’s a good chance we’re gonna be hosting here. That’s exciting for our guys. I know we’ll rally around this thing and go after it.”
BOUNCE BACK. Tavien St. Clair didn’t mince his words on Wednesday. When speaking with the media, including Eleven Warriors editor Dan Hope, after he signed his Big Ten scholarship agreement, St. Clair said he’s excited to be on campus with all his 2025 classmates because each of them loves the Buckeyes.
“I think we have a really good core of guys in the middle of our class. We’ve had some really loyal guys as well,” St. Clair said. “Most guys have stayed loyal, and we want guys that want to be Buckeyes. If you don’t want to be a Buckeye, we don’t want you for that reason. You come to Ohio State to be the best, and if you’re the best, you come to Ohio State.
It’s like Terrell Owens once said: “That’s my quarterback!”
I referenced it in the Thursday Skull Session, but Day said Wednesday that St. Clair and Devin Sanchez have been the leaders of the 2025 class. I can't wait to see both of them become leaders of the Ohio State offense and defense for years to come.
HE’S THE MILLER. St. Clair and Sanchez are the headliners in Ohio State’s 2025 class. Yet, I think the prospect I am most excited to see represent the Buckeyes is Bodpegn Miller, a native of Ontario, Ohio.
A 6-foot-4, 180-pound athlete, Miller didn’t have a composite rank when he attended an Ohio State prospect camp this past summer. However, his performance at the event – which included a 4.44-second 40 – impressed Brian Hartline and earned him a scholarship offer. Miller accepted it before Hartline could complete his sentence.
“I committed right when they offered me because I am a Buckeye through and through,” Miller told Jake Furr of Mansfield News Journal on Wednesday. “As I got to know the coaching staff and everybody in the program, I felt so much love, and I knew there was no doubt where I wanted to be.”
He won me over with that quote.
Then, he won me over with his hoop mixtape (his film – he won me over with his film).
Miller, who now ranks as the No. 293 overall prospect in the 2025 class almost six months after his commitment, holds several Ontario High School football records, including single-season rushing yards (1,988), single-season completion percentage (63.8), single-season passing yards, single-season total touchdowns (41), career rushing yards (3,610), career passing yards (6,398), career total offensive yards (10,008), career passing touchdowns (54) and career total touchdowns (101).
In other words, Miller is the GOAT for Ontario football. He's a green-diamond prospect in EA Sports College Football 25.
His head coach, Aaron Eckert – not to be confused with The Dark Knight’s Harvey Dent or Two Face actor Aaron Eckhart – said Miller’s competitiveness drove him to become one of the program’s all-time greats.
“He is one of the most competitive people I have ever met,” Eckert told Furr. “He broke his collar bone his freshman year, so when he was a sophomore, we limited him running the ball. But in the game against Shelby, he flat-out told us he was going to be running the ball, and when a kid tells you something, you listen. He never complained about injuries and did whatever we asked him to.
“There was a quote in the paper before our playoff game against Shelby at Arlin Field, and he said, ‘The only way I’m coming off the field is if someone is carting me off.’ After he scored the go-ahead touchdown, thankfully, we didn’t have to cart him off, but we did have to help him. He was exhausted. But after the PAT and kickoff, he was back out there on defense to end the game.”
Miller’s box score for the Shelby game was incredible. He completed 13 of 28 passes for 294 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran the ball 24 times for 209 yards and two scores. Oh, and that all came with a regional championship appearance on the line. In a testament to his character, Miller was meek after the performance, as he is in all walks of his life.
“He is so humble,” Eckert said. “He truly cares about people. I watch him interact with my own kids and while he is a big deal to them, he treats them like his little cousins that he can play around with. He never acts too big for the situation and always treats people with respect.
“After every game this year, win or lose, he would pose for pictures with anyone who wanted one. That includes people from opposing schools. He represents himself, his parents, his family and Ontario schools with class. He understands he has a positive way of impacting people.”
Yeah, I’m all in.
Ohio State signed 25 players on National Signing Day.
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) December 5, 2024
Learn more about all of them here: https://t.co/kWR8ZA3yU4
On Wednesday, Day said Miller will need time to develop at Ohio State, but when he sees the field, the head coach expects him to make an impact in several areas.
“Bodpegn is kind of the wild card (in this class),” Day said. “He’s a local guy who came to camp, did some great things, ran some really good times. You watch him run some routes, which he hadn’t done a whole lot of in his high school career, and you see some really high-end things, especially with his size at 6-foot-4. And then when you watch some of the games he had this season, he’s very, very competitive at quarterback. I don’t know if it will be year one for him, but we think he can be a very, very good receiver.”
With Hartline coaching the room, I expect no different.
OLYMPIC VILLAGE. As I child, I hated soccer.
Well, hate is a strong word.
I didn’t like soccer.
But now I know it as The Beautiful Game. I spend most Tuesdays and Saturdays cheering on Germany’s Bayern Munich – Mia San Mia – in the Champions League and Bundesliga. I also root for the men’s and women’s United States national teams, the men’s German national team and the Columbus Crew.
This fall, I added the Ohio State soccer teams to the list.
Ohio State’s men’s team has been dominant this season. The Buckeyes won a Big Ten regular-season title, the Big Ten Tournament and earned the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Get your tickets for the 2024 NCAA Quarterfinals in Columbus. Order here: https://t.co/NZBlz1NQaJ
— Ohio State Mens Soccer (@OhioStateMSOC) December 3, 2024
Students, make sure you arrive Early!#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/NmKCHjwlSM
On Saturday, Ohio State will face No. 8-seeded Wake Forest in the quarterfinal round at 5 p.m. inside Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. The winner will advance to the Final Four of the College Cup in Cary, North Carolina, next weekend.
Seventeen years is a long time – but it’s not long enough to forget. I didn’t like soccer as a child, but even I remember when Ohio State and Wake Forest last faced off in the 2007 national championship game. The Demon Deacons beat the Buckeyes 2-1. Technically, Ohio State got its revenge with a 3-0 regular-season win over Wake Forest in 2022, but of course, the stakes weren’t as high. Now, with their pursuit of a championship on the line, it’s time for the Buckeyes to get real payback.
Saturday. Jesse Owens Stadium. ESPN+.
SONG OF THE DAY. "Cough Syrup" - Young the Giant.
CUT TO THE CHASE. Bill Belichick is interested in coaching at... *checks notes*... North Carolina?... FBI investigating reports of large drones flying in New Jersey, seeks public’s help... Pride, bragging rights and more than $115M at stake when final college playoff rankings come out... Is Google making us stupid?... Ashton Jeanty's wait is over.
