Willyville Guy

Ugh. Baldwin being two plays away from going in is not really tenable. Maybe Urban should look at grad transfers.

Nothing but respect for this kid. Hate to see him go.

I’m enjoying this thread more than I expected to when I clicked. There’s a “well regarded” wing joint in Evanston, IL called Buffalo Joe’s that only serves ranch. The one time I went in there about 15 years ago I complained to the manager and told him to take Buffalo out of the name. It’s silly but I guess I am hardwired to get angry about that sort of thing. Ranch does have its place though - I could probably put this keg to use somehow:

With Shea Patterson now cleared to play, next season just got a lot more interesting for TTUN. Can’t wait!

Wow - I had no idea that he played until 1990. I always figured he retired sometime in the early-mid 80's.

Williams was a good “get” when he signed, and his time as a Buckeye has been marked by extreme highs and lows. Now he’s caught between two top-end backs and a budding superstar in Teague. I’ll be cheering for him wherever he goes.

Incredible legacy and coaching tree that includes Meyer, Saban, Carroll, and Dantonio. RIP

There’s a Russel Wilson QB2RB special on Barkley tonight on ESPN at 10:30 EST. I just watched the JT Barrett special and thought it was pretty good. PSU fans should probably check it out.

This was going to be my only note to add to yours. Right now I'm dreaming of Haskins at QB with Dobbins next to him; Campbell\DeMario at the H spot; Hill and Mack outside. The receiver room is pretty crowded and I feel like McLaurin and Victor are on the outside looking in. As for the d-line, yeah that unit is going to win games for this team. Dre'mont Jones did the Buckeyes a tremendous service by coming back, and it could certainly pay off for him in next year's draft.

Pretty incredible what a thriving athletic department can do for a university.

It's a nice thought to give Burrow an opportunity to go start immediately somewhere else as a grad. transfer if he doesn't win the starting job at Ohio State. Talking about it with Burrow's family and at press conferences shows that the coaches have a ton of respect for him. But as a fan of the team I'd rather have all the QBs on the roster this upcoming season because you just never know how it's going to go.

Joe Burrow will not go away. He beat out Haskins for the backup role last year before the hand injury; and this year, when everyone (including Meyer) is ready to anoint Haskins and allow Burrow to move on to Nebraska or wherever, the kid will just not back down. Haskins appears to be the best pure passer, Martell is the best runner, but Burrow can do both. Unless Urban is truly ready to move away from the QB-run heavy zone read, and it's tough to imagine that he is, then Joe B. may still be in the mix for starting QB at Ohio State. Incredible, really. P.S. I still think Haskins wins in the end because his arm and confidence in his leadership qualities offer the highest upside. Hopefully, Wilson\Day convince Urban that it's best to run with their RBs and throw with their QB(s).

I love this post. One of the best parts of the college game is watching kids come out of high school and grow up as part of an organized and intentional football program. You get a sense of their natural personalities and family backgrounds in a way that you just don’t see at the more polished pro level. The personal insights make the games more enjoyable, victories more satisfying, and setbacks more gut-wrenching. The Olympics tap into that sort of thing in a way. Anyway, great stuff – hopefully McCarron will thrive in Buffalo.

I just watched the presser and Urban said sources will face "immediate termination."

The story was retracted and Booker is still on the roster. Something is up, though. I’m guessing Yolo is right that someone told him he may not be a starter this year.

Brutal

Lol Finkes. At least Michigan can say that all of those players were undefeated in The Game.

Sure, what the hell, I'm obsessed with Michigan (mostly to feed my hate) so I'll chime here. As an OL coach, Warriner took a line that underperformed early in 2014, and helped them improve over the course of a season that included surviving OT in Happy Valley, pushing back one of the best defenses at MSU that I can remember, outlasting a game Michigan squad, and then of course the epic run all the way to a national title in front of a QB carousel. Promoting him to OC was a mistake; if you look back at the Go Bucks thread on here I bet you'll find several posts calling for Warriner to move back to OL. This is a high quality position coach who knows the B1G very well, and maybe most important he understands exactly what Urban is trying to do at OSU. GREAT hire for Harbaugh. Regardless of the coaches, Michigan's dreams will rise or fall on whether Shea Patterson is granted a waiver to play this year as a transfer student. Last year that team had plenty of talent but the piss poor QB play completely derailed the season. If Patterson plays I'd expect to see the swagger come back in a hurry and, well, I'm old enough to know what can happen then.

I read today that they have a record eight five-star recruits. Incredible.

The bad news is that the flip means UGA likely has the No. 1 class in the nation instead of OSU, but the good news is that Michigan's class is pretty much gutted. On balance, I'm fine with it.

If by "weird" you mean "amazing," then I agree! BOOM! News about Petit-Frere and Schiano is not a bad way to start the day.

Not ideal. But this is why Urban has two coordinators on both sides of the ball, right? We’ll see how it plays out - there are plenty of great coaches looking to step into the NFL on-deck circle in Columbus.

Very grateful to Eric Wood for what he gave to the Bills as a player and leader. Sucks to see it end like this.

The divide, as I understand it, is really between Tressel-era people and Urban-era people. Vrabel played for Cooper, and I don’t think Buckeyes from the 90s really fall into either camp. (Bruce-era Buckeyes may tend to support Urban because of his time with the program back then.) He’s kind of an enigma to me. I liked him for stepping up for Fickell when the team was in disarray, but he’s never been one of the solid guys around the program from that era like, for example, Matt Finkes. Joey, on the other hand, is part of a family with an unimpeachable commitment to Ohio State. So if Joey thinks Vrabel is BS, I give that a lot of weight. That said, I agree 100% about the rigors of CFB and life on the road. Taking a sweet NFL position and relieving himself of the travel must have been very attractive to Coombs, who was never going to run his own program, regardless of Vrabel and his relationship with OSU. Separately, I see that several Buckeye insiders view Day as a Tom Herman type of coach — maybe even a successor to Urban. I’m not quite there. Day came in to fix the QB position, and in my view he didn’t do it last year. I see the accolades from JT and Burrow and others, and the Chip Kelly endorsement is significant, but the evidence wasn’t on the field in 2017. Herman, by contrast, got the offense going immediately. And his press conferences were must-see internet because he was so smart and forthright about what was happening and why. I don’t see any of that in Day right now.

Joey calling him a fake buckeye is devestating.