Willyville Guy

Matt Barnes could start transitioning to that role in the meantime.

Tough times on D made even worse with Proctor's season-ending injury. I feel terrible for the kid. Duane Long on the Bucknuts Morning 5 today said they may look at Egbuka to play safety. Apparently he was a special player on defense in high school, the move would put five star talent on the back end of the defense, and it would give him game experience while he waits for his time to come at WR. Interesting. Also, this from today's press conference with Day, according to the 11W presser bullets: On whether Sevyn Banks is dealing with anything besides an injury issue: "No, nothing else." ... On Sevyn Banks: "He's not too injured to play." Not sure what to make of that. Hopefully we see some clear changes soon because the current situation seems bad both on and off the field.

Paging Marcus Freeman. Marcus Freeman, please pick up the white curtesy phone. Look I love Coach Coombs and give him a pass for last year (even though the lack of any adjustments in the natty game was physically painful to watch). Seems like nothing has changed. The scheme issue has the feel of something that will fade out of the spotlight for a month or two as OSU moves through the rest of its schedule, but we know it will pop up again at the worst possible time.

How bad is it for Coombs on Columbus radio right now?

UCLA played fast and hit hard last night. Hadn’t seen that in a while. Kelly can coach and he’s a proven recruiter on the west coast. UCLA could be onto something here.

Yes, please.

Well that was quite an adventure. One thing I loved though is that OSU didn't just grind out a win, they started throwing haymakers like crazy when needed to separate and win the game. When Meatball came back in with the lead in the 4th, 130 years of Ohio State football told me it was "three yards and a cloud of dust" time -- and I was fine with that. But instead they threw a bomb for a TD and made it look easy. Backbreaker. Love it. As for the defense, sheesh. I'll reserve judgment on the back end until the CBs come back and they have more game reps overall, but man that was frustrating to watch.

That's awesome -- I expect that tOSU will pick up some new fans in Hopewell over the next couple of years!

One week!!

Oh, 100%. Not ideal but you can't say no to him.

My guess is that is Stroud stays put for this year (assuming he's the starter) because it is unlikely that Ewers can arrive on campus in August and be ready to play right away with no spring and a very limited summer. So I'm looking for him to be listed third on the depth chart in Week 1 (agree that Miller appears to be the odd man out here). For garbage time game snaps though, I wouldn't be surprised to see them split between McCord and Ewers right away. Hopefully this is managed better than QBmageddon in 2015. I heard an interesting comment this morning about his NIL and draft opportunities. Apparently students have to complete one college semester before they can start entering into NIL deals. By coming to school now and attending classes this fall, he can speed up the clock and start earning money January 1, which is just five months from now. It also puts him a year closer to the NFL. The kid is chasing that bag!

That's awesome! Question for you. Do you think it hurts the critical relationships that exist in recruiting between college coaches and high school coaches if star players skip their senior seasons (and a chance to win big with their high school coach/team) to go off to college? If the high school coaches start getting annoyed because OSU wants their five-stars on campus early, I'm a bit concerned that there could be longer-term, unintended consequences here. The pipelines are generally more important than any one player.

That QB room….

Oh boy - they are definitely seeing something new out of him. Can’t wait to see for myself.

Long Horn Network -- UT's own TV channel.

This is getting even weirder. It’s basically going to be ESPN versus FOX to see who can hype up their conferences more.

Are we in a full-on arms race now? If so, Kevin Warren is not a wartime commissioner. New B1G football czar Barry Alvarez might be, though. It used to be all about getting into new TV markets (hence Maryland and Rutgers), but now apparently there are so many streaming options and team/game specific packages available that the cable TV ratings aren't the most important factor anymore. Now it's all about building a high-profile brand with the media exposure needed to maximize the NIL revenue that can be brought in through star players at primetime schools, and (as Ryan Day said at his press conference today) figuring out how to distribute that money throughout the team. That's a tricky puzzle that will be easier to manage if there're plenty of money for everyone. My view is that Ohio State is in a great spot to sit back and see how this all plays out, and then decide how or where to proceed. The conference is in deep trouble though, and so is the NCAA generally, if it isn't an active player in this moment. I personally don't want to have to watch a bunch of OSU-Kansas football games just to gain a hoops powerhouse. USC on the other hand...

He's living his best life and knows it.

Ryan Day, man. (And Hartline and LJ and Coombs, etc.)

!!!

Today’s the day, and some dude on an Oregon board named himself NevadaDuck lol

You know, it would be nice to get some work done heading into the long weekend, but instead I'm refreshing my browser for JTT updates as if it was Mario Williams visiting Buffalo all over again. The hype is real!

There's a lot of buzz around Banks this offseason, but I haven't seen anything on the field that makes me think he's a first rounder of even much of a star. In 2019 when he came in for Wade a few times, especially in the Clemson game, there was a noticeable drop-off. Last year didn't provide much of a body of work to evaluate, but he didn't stand out to me as particularly good or bad. It's common for college players to make a big leap as they become upper classmen so maybe the coaches and beat reporters are seeing that behind the scenes - which would be awesome.