Willyville Guy

I don't think you're being callous. Urban plainly stated last week that he had no knowledge about the alleged 2015 incident between Zach Smith and his ex-wife Courtney. McMurphy says text messages between Courtney and Shelley Meyer from 2015 prove that Shelley knew, and he says Shelley's knowledge proves that Urban knew. Maybe that's right but it's not direct evidence of Urban's knowledge. McMurphy further says that in text messages between Courtney and the wife of the OSU director of football operations, Courtney was told about a 2015 meeting between Urban and Zach about the incident. That's also damning but the texts themselves are not direct evidence of any meeting. So the circumstantial evidence suggests Urban knew about the alleged incident in 2015, but I have not seen any direct evidence. Back then, Earl Bruce -- former HC, Urban's father-like mentor, and Zach's grandfather -- was at the end of his life. Maybe Urban didn't want to do anything to upset Bruce before he passed. So the context is there for Urban to sit on whatever information he had. Again, speculative and circumstantial but it feels like it could be true. In any event, it's about to get hot in the kitchen for Urban. Given the nature of the evidence, I don't think we can say for sure what he knew and didn't know. Plenty of room for the Homers to say Urban didn't know; plenty of room for the Haters to say he clearly knew and lied about it. All I can say is that IF he knew about the 2015 incident between Zach and Courtney, took no action, and then flatly lied about it at media day last week... then Urban should not lead a great and proud program like Ohio State. And in that case, send him packing and turn the keys over to Schiano.

I knew there was something weird about the 2015 incident.... Well, if this is it then it's been a helluva run with Urban. My first instinct is to move Schiano to HC, with Wilson/Day and Grinch as coordinators.

ATT ruined DTV's customer service. It used to be a pleasure to call that company. Now it's like pulling teeth.

There will be no shortage of topics for discussion at media day tomorrow. Now I can really feel football season coming.

Fired.

I wonder if he's more trouble than he's worth. He gets all the wrong kinds of press, and his unit has underperformed in recent years. But on the other hand, WR recruiting has been insane. He's also relatively inexpensive. So, I guess keep him for now? EDIT: Oh boy, I just read the Brett McMurphy piece about how far back this all goes. Worse than I thought. Smith needs to address it.

Yikes - it's a little early to trigger my anxiety. I feel like TCU has been waiting for this since 2014.

That's amazing - you must have been so psyched. Go Bucks!

You are in for a real treat. Standing in Ohio Stadium watching those teams and colors go at it is a unique experience. Enjoy!

Never sure what to make of this stuff, but this is encouraging...

Whew - it was looking pretty dicey for a QB in that class. Score another one for Friday Night Lights!

The entire run has been a dream come true ever since Tress said, “I can assure you that you will be proud of your young people in the classroom, in the community, and most especially in 310 days in Ann Arbor, Michigan.” It's gotta end sooner or later.

Michigan has three rivalry games on the road (ND, MSU, OSU), and two doozies at home (PSU, Wisky). That's a handful if I've ever seen one.

Probably my own biases, but UCLA's schedule does not strike me as more difficult than the schedules for Michigan, ND, and LSU.

What that the last recruiting battle OSU "lost" to UM?

I didn’t expect it, certainly didn’t ask for it, but for the next two years I’m an LSU fan. The rest of the SEC is tiger bait!

I wish Joe and the LSU family all the best, unless and until their interests conflict with my own. Cheers.

I'd find room on my all-drought roster for rookie year Kiko Alonso.

I like him too and would enjoy watching him lay waste to the defenses in the Big East or ACC for the next two years. I would expect that there will be a lot of interest in Ohio to see how he does against a tougher SEC schedule if he ends up at LSU. Pretty much everybody is rooting for him.

I could see an Alex Smith type working in Baton Rouge. That team has sick talent all over the field and doesn't necessarily need a QB to light it up every week. Someone is going to need to step up in a big way though against Miami, Auburn, Georgia, and Bama - and I would love for that person to be Jeaux Burreaux. (That, and not having to see him come play in a visitors uniform at the shoe.)

Solid all around player. Good passer, good mobility, coaches and teammates love him. The sense is that he has a lower ceiling than you want to see at a national program competing for titles, which is why he couldn't secure a starting spot over Haskins, who has an NFL arm but less mobility and perhaps fewer intangibles. Still, Burrow appeared to have won the backup competition last season until he broke his hand and opened the door for Haskins. Nobody knows what Burrow would do as a starter; could be epic, could be meh. I don't see anything wrong with him though and am very interested to see how he does.

Haha they both killed!! ?

Well, it won't be pretty, but last time UB came to Columbus Khalil Mack became a national sensation, so maybe the Bulls can gain some positive notoriety again to go along with the huge payday that comes with a game like this.

The Andre the Giant documentary I recently watched makes me worry about the health care decisions this kid and his family are facing. Complicated situation for a 14 yr old.

Clearly not the worst situation ever. That was the Steve Bellisari\Austin Moherman competition in the late-90s I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around Baldwin on the three-deep, though. The kid's in high-school nursing an ACL right now. The thought of him playing on Saturdays this fall is pretty wild. I guess I expected him to disappear into the gym with Coach Mick for about 18 months before really starting to evaluate his viability. A lot of this will depend on the offense. Haskins as the starter suggests that we will finally see Kevin Wilson's offense featuring a more pro-style passing game that exposes the QB to fewer big hits. But if Urban ends up reverting to the zone read and making his QBs run slow zones up the middle over and over like he has in the past... well, that depth chart would become pretty scary for me in a hurry. Ugh. I expect Martell to be like Braxton. Absolutely electric in space and a competent passer. I hope your friend is wrong about the passing