Welcome to the Skull Session.
Emojis are back on X! Ohio State has one!
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) December 8, 2024
Have a good Tuesday.
GOT OFFENSIVE LINEMEN? The transfer portal opened on Monday. That means offensive linemen entered the transfer portal on Monday. Ohio State should want all of them. OK, not all of them. But the good ones! Ohio State should want the good ones!
Before we dive into the heavier #content of the Tuesday Skull Session, I have decided to show off the Pro Football Focus grades of the top-five offensive tackles and top-five interior offensive linemen in the transfer portal – that is, top fives according to 247Sports.
| PLAYER | SCHOOL | OFF | PBLK | RBLK | PENALTIES |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COREY ROBINSON II | GEORGIA TECH | 69.2 | 91.2 | 56.3 | 1 |
| CARVER WILLIS | KANSAS STATE | 69.3 | 62.3 | 73.2 | 6 |
| ETHAN ONIANWA | RICE | 75.5 | 81.3 | 67.9 | 1 |
| TEAGUE ANDERSEN | UTAH STATE | 68.1 | 81.3 | 62.5 | 7 |
| LUKE BAKLENKO | STANFORD | 55.3 | 57.8 | 52.3 | 1 |
| * GRADES VIA PRO FOOTBALL FOCUS | |||||
| PLAYER | SCHOOL | OFF | PBLK | RBLK | PENALTIES |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HUNTER ZAMBRANO | ILLINOIS STATE | 57.4 | 64.0 | 57.7 | 1 |
| JORDAN WHITE | LIBERTY | 82.2 | 66.4 | 87.4 | 7 |
| JOSH THOMPSON | NORTHWESTERN | 74.9 | 82.0 | 75.5 | 3 |
| MAHAMANE MOUSSA | PURDUE | 47.4 | 42.3 | 52.3 | 9 |
| KAM DEWBERRY | TEXAS A&M | 58.6 | 51.0 | 58.4 | 0 |
| * GRADES VIA PRO FOOTBALL FOCUS | |||||
As Garrick Hodge reported Friday, Ohio State reached out to Thompson last week. Thompson told Allen Trieu of 247Sports Monday he will visit Michigan State, Auburn and Ohio State this week. The 6-foot-5, 301-pound Thompson earned honorable mention All-Big Ten honors in 2024. Across three seasons at Northwestern, he made 31 appearances for the Wildcats, earning reps at left guard, right guard and right tackle.
It's unclear whether Ohio State has contacted the other names featured above. However, I think it's safe to assume that the Buckeyes will send out texts, phone calls and emails in spades this winter, considering the offensive line has been the main source of scrutiny for the Buckeyes since the 2023 Cotton Bowl.
As has been the case since the transfer portal started in 2018, we'll have all the latest news available at elevenwarriors.com. And remember, if the staff hasn't written about it yet, there's a good chance the news has been reported in the fabled Eleven Warriors Forum – that's one of the things I love most about our website. You all are on top of it!
ANOTHER BATTLE IN THE TRENCHES. Ohio State will be active in the portal. Still, no transfer offensive lineman could help the program in its pursuit of a national championship this season, no matter how active the Buckeyes choose to be.
That said, can Ohio State's current offensive line deliver in the College Football Playoff?
Tennessee's defensive line is as talented as Michigan's. While the Volunteers' stars (James Pearce Jr. and Joshua Josephs) come off the edge and the Wolverines' stars (Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant) stuff the interior, Tennessee has been effective in all the same areas. The Vols have a top-five total defense, top-five scoring defense and top-10 rushing defense this season. They also rank top 10 in pressure rate, according to Pro Football Focus.
Good news: Ohio State's offense has experience against elite defenses this fall. Chief among them were Penn State, Indiana and Michigan, all of which Ohio State faced in November. The Buckeyes passed their tests with the Nittany Lions and Hoosiers but failed their final exam with the Wolverines. They could have passed all three if Ryan Day and Chip Kelly hadn't called 14 runs between the tackles and instead asked Will Howard to throw the ball to Jeremiah Smith, Emeka Egbuka and Carn –
I have moved on.
I have moved on.
I have moved on.
I haven't moved on.
But I can if Ohio State learns from the mistakes it made in The Game. Based on Day's comments Sunday, I am confident the Buckeyes can.
"I've definitely been spending time with the offense (since the Michigan loss). We'll look at it and see whatever makes the most sense to win this game. We'll do whatever it takes. We've already been looking at Tennessee," he said. "Guys have got a head start on this thing. We'll dive into it (Sunday) hard and into tomorrow. Then we'll have a clean game plan on Tuesday with third down, red zone and goal line. We have about 10 days to work it and flush through all the issues."
Day also said he and his staff will evaluate the offensive line in practice this week and next. Day indicated that Donovan Jackson and Josh Fryar will remain Ohio State's tackles; however, he said the Buckeyes could have some movement on the interior as Tegra Tshabola, Carson Hinzman, Austin Siereveld, Joshua Padilla and Luke Montgomery battle for reps. Some mix of them will start when the Buckeyes host the Volunteers.
If Ohio State beats Tennessee, it will face Oregon in Pasadena. If Ohio State wins that one and the remainder of the 12-team CFP ends in chalk, the Buckeyes will face Texas in Arlington and Georgia in Atlanta en route to a national championship.
Even if Ohio State had Josh Simmons and Seth McLaughlin, that would be a difficult ask for Ohio State's offensive line. This means Day, Kelly and Justin Frye need to cook when scheming up run and pass blocking the next two weeks – and all the weeks after that.
"These guys have what it takes to make this run. We have to help them," Day said. "I think there are ways to do that. We haven't done a lot of practicing (since the Michigan loss). We've been out there twice, and we'll get a big week of practice this week, but we have to go put it on the field. There's a lot of ways we can do it, and we will."
THE BIG TEN'S NEWEST CHAMPION. There's a new King in the Big Ten. Its name is Oregon.
This past summer, Oregon stationed an inflatable Oregon Duck outside Big Ten Media Days and ran a social media campaign featuring its mascot at the conference's 17 other campuses. What seemed like a gimmick at the time now feels like a gambit. Oregon had us believe it was a harmless, innocent opponent, but months later, the Ducks would stage a coup for the Big Ten crown – one that had belonged to Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan State and Wisconsin since the Big Ten Championship Game started in 2011.
Oregon has been the Big Ten's and college football's best team this fall. Did the Ducks benefit from Phil Knight's deep pocketbooks? Of course. But Dan Lanning still had to turn Knight's resources into wins, and he did. This past weekend, the Ducks improved to 13-0 with a win in the conference title game. Their record includes wins over all five previous Big Ten champions: Michigan State and Ohio State at home, Michigan and Wisconsin on the road and Penn State at Lucas Oil Stadium. Another one of their victories came over Boise State, the No. 3 seed in the College Football Playoff.
I'll add that those wins showed Lanning has some moxie, the kind needed to win a national championship. Against Ohio State, he placed a 12th defender on the field to drain time off the Buckeyes' potential game-winning drive. Against Michigan, he called a timeout to let his team watch 100,000 people exit the Big House in shambles. Against Wisconsin, he allowed his team to participate in "Jump Around." Against Washington, he smashed a Huskies helmet in the locker room at halftime.
Oregon can win a title in 2024. The same will be true for future seasons.
(In the 2025 class alone, the Ducks flipped five-star cornerback Na'eem Offord from Ohio State and landed five-star safety Trey McNutt from Ohio, four-star cornerback Brandon Finney from Maryland and four-star running back Dierre Hill from Illinois. That's impressive!)
What's interesting about Oregon's championship aspirations this year is that it could require them to beat Ohio State in the CFP quarterfinals. Many believed the Buckeyes would avenge their loss in Eugene with a win over the Ducks in Indianapolis, but the team failed to award itself the chance after an inexplicable loss to Michigan. Still, with a win over Tennessee on Dec. 21, Ohio State could receive the rematch it has craved since October. There will be plenty of narratives to discuss and questions to answer if and when that happens, but here's the one that will interest me the most: Will Oregon establish itself as the undisputed King of the Big Ten, or will Ohio State reclaim its throne?
MARVELOUS MARV. This past weekend, former Ohio State and current Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. wore green cleats as part of a partnership with The Jed Foundation, a mental health non-profit, to raise awareness for mental health support among teens and young adults.
.@MarvHarrisonJr teamed up with the @jedfoundation for #MyCauseMyCleats to further spread awareness for mental health support pic.twitter.com/Ln118Wu1vu
— NFL (@NFL) December 8, 2024
You love to see it.
Harrison has a massive platform. For him to use that platform to raise awareness for mental health makes me proud.
This season, Harrison has 45 catches for 655 yards and seven touchdowns across 13 appearances for the Arizona Cardinals. It's the production we've come to expect from Harrison – or the production he expects from himself – but that's OK. We all know the potential the 6-foot-4, 205-pound pass-catcher has to be one of the next great receivers in the NFL. It's only a matter of time.
SONG OF THE DAY. "Too Sweet" - Hozier.
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