Welcome to the Skull Session.
SNL 50 was excellent. Adam Sandler's song was, too!
Adam Sandler's Song: 50 Years #SNL50 pic.twitter.com/tACkE3xNiJ
— Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) February 17, 2025
Have a good Monday.
RYAN DAY'S FAVORITE MOMENTS. Ohio State had several memorable moments in 2024. Ryan Day named his favorite in a recent appearance on THE Podcast, breaking each of them down in detail:
NOTE: These are in chronological order
- Ohio State's win at Penn State
- Carnell Tate's touchdown catches at Northwestern (at Wrigley Field)
- Caleb Downs' punt return touchdown against Indiana
- Running out of the tunnel against Tennessee
- TreVeyon Henderson's touchdown, Lathan Ransom's hit and Jeremiah Smith's second touchdown against Oregon
- Ohio State's goal-line stand, Jack Sawyer's scoop-and-score in the Cotton Bowl
- Quinshon Judkins' 70-yard run and a conversation with Sawyer in the national championship game
I like it!
NOPE, I'M GOOD! Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports posted an... interesting... article last week. The short title read, "Jeremiah Smith should think about pulling a Clarett."
Intrigued, I clicked on it.
I wish I didn't.
In no less than 1,400 words, Dodd said Smith, the Big Ten Freshman and Receiver of the Year, should pass on his next two college football seasons and enter the 2025 NFL draft. "As it stands, Smith needs two more college seasons to be eligible for the 2027 draft. In the moment, that seems more like confinement than a requirement," he wrote.
Dodd based his claim on three pieces of evidence: One, that Smith dominated college football as a freshman; two, that NFL evaluators and scouts believe Smith would be, at minimum, a top-10 pick in the 2025 class; and three, that Smith purchased insurance based on his NFL potential.
As such, Dodd said Smith should consider following a "trail of breadcrumbs" Clarett left behind in 2003.
1) Like Smith, he had the talent to play right away in the NFL after a freshman season in 2002 that resulted in 1,237 rushing yards and a national championship.
2) He is the last and, to date, only player to have successfully taken on that NFL Draft rule.
Clarett won the right in district court to be drafted following that 2002 freshman season. The decision was overturned on appeal in 2004 by the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (by current Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor). The Supreme Court at the time refused to hear the case.
"I think we were right the first time ...," Alan Milstein, the lead attorney in Clarett's case, said recently. "If he couldn't play in the NFL, he wouldn't be drafted."
That was the basic argument. Clarett had the talent to be drafted. All he needed was a chance. Like Clarett, if he chose this route, Smith would be drafted highly. But that's not really the point. Clarett sued the NFL because it had — in his view — colluded to keep him from being drafted.
"The Second Circuit basically said that anything labor and management agree on is fine with us," Milstein added. "I think a lot since then has changed."
Nope, I'm good! Thank you! I'm good! Thank you!
Smith is generational. How about we let him be generational at Ohio State for two more seasons?
Clarett agrees.
"I wouldn't advise him to try to challenge (the NFL), push or do anything I tried to do," Clarett told Dodd. "You'll be able to make money there. Just enjoy it all, man."
Amen!
"AN ESSENTIAL PIECE OF THE PUZZLE." Ohio State added six transfers this winter: Running back CJ Donaldson Jr. (West Virginia), tight end Max Klare (Purdue), offensive tackles Ethan Onianwa (Rice) and Phillip Daniels (Minnesota), defensive end Logan George (Idaho State) and linebacker Ty Howard (Duquesne).
Which of those portal additions was the best?
Max Olson of ESPN picked Onianwa:
The defending national champs are dealing with some significant offensive changes for 2025 with offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, offensive line coach Justin Frye and eight starters moving on to the NFL.
Replacing starting offensive tackles Josh Simmons and Josh Fryar was a serious need for the Buckeyes during the portal window, and they landed two promising prospects in Onianwa and Minnesota transfer Phillip Daniels. The experience Onianwa brings to the table, as a three-year starter who has played more than 2,200 career snaps, makes him an essential piece of the puzzle for an Ohio State offensive line that had to overcome injuries and depend on inexperienced depth during their title run.
While I could make a case for Klare, Onianwa is the correct choice.
After all, Olson's co-worker, Tom Luginbill, called the 6-foot-6, 345-pound tackle "the best offensive lineman in the portal, and it's not even close." And, according to Pro Football Focus, Onianwa allowed one sack in 350 pass-blocking snaps and earned a 69.2 overall grade in 2024.
Is that good?
I'LL TAKE THE LOT. In hot pursuit of #content to end the Skull Session, I stumbled across an Etsy page called CodeyDraws.
What does Codey draw?
Well, lots of stuff...
... including, but not limited to, Jack Sawyer's scoop-and-score in the Cotton Bowl and Smith's 56-yard catch in the national championship game.
Check these out:
** slams credit card on table **
** slams credit card on table **
** slams credit card on table **
SONG OF THE DAY. "Skinny Love" - Bon Iver.
CUT TO THE CHASE. The newest WNBA expansion franchise will go to Cleveland... Tigers, zebras and other stuffed animals will get new homes after health concerns kept them hidden... Michigan judge sentences Walmart shoplifters to wash cars in the parking lot... A humpback whale briefly swallows kayaker in Chilean Patagonia — and it’s all captured on camera... "Saturday Night Live" anniversary special opens with Paul Simon, Sabrina Carpenter and Steve Martin.
