Three Yards and a Cloud of Links

Three Yards and a Cloud of Links is Men of the Scarlet and Gray’s semi-regular curated look at items that would interest Ohio State fans. These include news items, interesting blog posts and the occasional meme you’ve probably already seen. It’s all here and it’s all for you. Have a tip that should be included in the next TYAACOL? Drop us a line at motsag@gmail.com or through our Contact Page.

IT’S MILLER TIME: Bill Rabinowitz of The Columbus Dispatch has a great article on the senior leader of the Buckeyes, Braxton Miller. There’s lots of great stuff here, so you definitely should read the whole thing, but here a couple pieces I particularly enjoyed. The first was Braxton’s hesitancy in telling the new coaching staff about his new born son, Landon. There was only one person he trusted enough to tell the news:

In fact, the only one he confided in was his roommate, fellow quarterback Kenny Guiton, who also became a father two months after Miller.

There were times during last season when people wondered out loud if Kenny G should be starting instead of Miller, who had some ups and downs. In our own minds we had built up this rivalry, but there clearly was a relationship not everyone was privy to.

I also enjoy his candidness when asked about having the Heisman Trophy as a goal:

“If I just play my game, play smart and play within myself, a lot of good things will happen,” he said. “If we do what we’re supposed to do on offense and defense and score a lot of points and be Big Ten champions and get to the national (playoff), I would really love to accept that Heisman award.”

A great read about a great kid.

BUCK NAKED: Late last week it was announced that Jonathan Waters, the Ohio State Marching Band director was fired after an exhaustive investigation was done and found a troubling “”sexualized” culture of the band”. You can read all about the investigation here and a lot of the fallout here.

If you were on Twitter when the new broke, I’m sure you saw much of the reaction that trended toward Ohio State acting too harshly. You can read the investigation and come to your own conclusion. I’ve certainly come to mine.

I think what bothered me the most about this situation was the number of hot takes that basically blew this off as “things college kids do”. While that may be entirely true, why is that excuse valid? Why can’t we demand that “college kids” be better? And aren’t people like Dr. Waters tasked with teaching them that they should be better? I know there is going to be a lot of this kind of thing happening, but I guess I’d rather see things like this not be swept aside with another shrug of the shoulders and “kids will be kids” excuse. Maybe I’m getting to be an old fuddy-duddy, but that’s just me.

(I have to give a h/t to future MotSaG’er Frenchie on that title)

B1G! B1G!: The B1G Media Days kick off tomorrow in Chicago, which will be the first real chance the media has to get access to the football coaches, and Ari Wasserman has a few questions that Urban Meyer might have to answer. Dave Biddle has a five storylines for the Buckeyes going in to B1G Media Days, as well. What are a few questions you’d ask Coach Meyer, given the opportunity?

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS (AND CARLOS HYDE KNOCKS OPPORTUNITY DOWN): With San Francisco’s running backs dropping like flies to injuries, it looks like Carlos Hyde is going to get some early chances to show off what he’s got:

“El Guapo” is a “throwback runner” – he knows the shortest distance between A and B is a straight line, often running over his opposition en route to a big gain. Times have changed and football has evolved into a passing game, eliminating the need to draft running backs early in the first round. Hyde slipped to the 49ers at #57, and when considering recent injuries to the backfield, it’s starting to look like one of the best picks in the draft.

#23 IT IS:

ETC: It looks like Kyle Trout will probably redshirt this season. Get to know Mrs. Urban Meyer.