An Ohio State Sports Blog
Another day, another Award Watchlist released today:
Davey O’Brien Award (Best College Quarterback)
Braxton Miller, QB
The last Ohio State Buckeye to win the Davey O’Brien Award was 2006 Heisman Trophy Winner, Troy Smith.
Previous Watchlists:
Award Watchlist Watch: Outland, Nagurski, Maxwell, Bednarik, Rimington, and Mackey
Award Watchlist Watch: Butkus, Thorpe, and Lombardi
Award Watchlist Watch: Biletnikoff
Athens, Ohio – Frank Solich is sitting at his desk in the new Ohio University Football complex, shaking his head in moderate disbelief.
“I don’t get it, I really just don’t get it,” he says, sighing. “At first, I figured it was just a misspeak. Surely Brady meant ‘Ohio State’. Why would he call out ‘Ohio’? We never did anything to him.”
“Then he did it again. It didn’t seem as cute this time. I thought maybe his Michigan keester was still smartin’ from Groce’s boys knocking Beilein’s Wolverines out of the tournament in ’12. You know, we coaches have each other’s backs. I’d stick up for my basketball coach like anyone would.”
“Now, I’m just getting mad. He won’t stop. I don’t know what his deal is. We don’t even play them! I don’t even know if we ever have.” Solich seems like he’s at his wits end.
He said he’s reached out to Hoke, to correct him. He’s called him on the phone numerous occasions, to let him know he’s getting a little tired of the joke. He’s not going to let Hoke goad him into a shouting match. “I could call the Wolverines ‘The Broncos’ or ‘The Chippewas’ or even ‘The Spartans’. But I’m not stooping to his level.”
He wonders if greasy fingers cause problems with capacitive touch screens. There has to be a reason why Hoke won’t answer.
“And now Will Muschamp is getting into the game. What the heck is going on?” Solich is exasperated. He just read Muschamp’s comments out of today’s SEC Media Day meetings, where Muschamp was quoted as saying, “We appreciate our friends from Ohio making sure we follow NCAA rules. They certainly know something about NCAA rules.†Mushcamp followed up by saying, “It’s a dead issue. In both situations we were turned in by Ohio.”
Solich is getting nervous. “WHAT SITUATIONS?!”
“What does he mean by, ‘we know something about NCAA rules’? Of course we do!”
Solich wonders if Muschamp is still stinging from that near upset of his Gators by the upstart Bowling Green Golden Falcons (from the Mid-American Conference, the same conference Solich’s Ohio Bobcats partcipate in). “Maybe Bowling Green put the fear in Muschamp. MACtion is coming for you, Willie Boy! You don’t have Mack or Nick’s coattail to ride on anymore!”
At this point, Solich’s face is starting to turn red. It’s clear now that this means war. “Hoke didn’t scare me when he started this crap and now Muschamp can just get in line.”
“He can come say that right to my face. Then we’ll see. We’ll see what Ohio is all about.”
(Chris Farley was unavaialble for comment)
Just one Award Watchlist released today:
Biletnikoff Award (Outstanding College Football Receiver )
Corey Brown, WR
Devin Smith, WR
Previous Watchlists:
Award Watchlist Watch: Outland, Nagurski, Maxwell, Bednarik, Rimington, and Mackey
Award Watchlist Watch: Butkus, Thorpe, and Lombardi
More Award Watchlists released, more Buckeyes named:
Butkus Award (Best Linebacker)
Ryan Shazier, LB
Jim Thorpe Award (Best Defensive Back)
C.J. Barnett, S
Christian Bryant, S
Bradley Roby, CB
Lombardi Award (Top Offensive Lineman, Defensive Lineman, or Linebacker)
Andrew Norwell, G
Ryan Shazier, LB
Previous Watchlists:
Award Watchlist Watch: Outland, Nagurski, Maxwell, Bednarik, Rimington, and Mackey
The MotSaG Reader’s Digest is just that — a quick glance at the past week of content here at Men of the Scarlet and Gray. This will give you a chance to catch up on anything you may have missed during the course of the week. This isn’t everything we posted this week, so we always encourage everyone to subscribe to our feed, sign up for email alerts or simply check the website on a regular basis.
We kicked off the week with the announcement that we had added a host of new writers to site, most of which you have read in the past week or so and some you’ll read in the coming week. We have made a serious push to recruit some fine writers and I think we’ve been successful in that endeavor. We are excited to have such a good group.
Speaking of new writers, we also launched a new content category here on the site led by our new writer Garth: Wrestling. He spoke with future B1G member Rutger’s wrestling coach, Scott Goodale. Along with the future of the Rutger’s wrestling program, Garth also touched on the impact that Rutger’s is feeling in anticipation of joining the B1G:
Thus, at least for football, wrestling and many other sports, one suspects, the move to the Big Ten has to be seen as a recruiting bonanza
Garth also spoke with former Buckeye wrestler Reece Humphrey and his quest to compete at the highest level of wrestling in the 2016 Olympics.
Garth wrapped up the week with a personal story about Archie Griffin and his ill-timed sickness before one of the biggest wrestling matches of the future Heisman winner’s life.
Dylan gave us a recap of all the future Buckeye’s that were out in the Pacific Northwest the week before, participating in The Opening . The Buckeyes were well represented, bringing nine recruits to the festivities, the most from any single team.
Dylan says that Terry Mclaurin had the best showing of the nine Buckeyes there:
Terry’s numbers for the four events for Sparq were 4.4 seconds for the 40-yard dash and an amazing 44.8″ vertical jump. He also had a 42′ power toss and a 4.07 second shuttle run. In the final competition he came in second overall by winning 3 of the 4 events. In addition to his incredible athletic ability, on the last day of 7 on 7, he hauled in four TDs.
We also had interviews with David Dowell and Jonathan Hilliman.
On the basketball recruiting side, Chris K. gave us an update on Carlton Bragg, a target Thad Matta would love to land here in Columbus.
Jeremiah (SYR) looked at the recently announced 2016 and 2017 football schedules. He also recapped the sad story of Ray Small and the sorry turns his life has taken ever since he left the Buckeye football team.
We’ve got a lot of great content coming next week that we’ve been hard at work on and we are really excited about sharing.
We’ll be starting a new series looking at the Top 25 Football Players in the B1G, starting with #25 tomorrow. Here’s a spoiler: We’ll start with a Buckeye. Will we end with one, too?
We also will be introducing another writer that we’re really excited about, breaking down some of the technical aspects of the Tom Herman/Urban Meyer offense, starting with the tight ends.
That, and a whole lot more awaits as we lead up to the opening of camp in August
We’ve finally made it here, all the way back when this started in March Madness — the quest to determine the most spectacular moments during the 2012 Football Season (see all the previous entries here).
First, we have to crown the two division winners. For the greatest Defensive/Special Team moment of 2012, the nod goes to the force of nature, star scholar at Linebacker University, Ryan Shazier, with his fourth-and-goal stop of Wisconsin’s Monte Ball in Ohio State’s thrilling victory over those dirty Badgers. Nothing during the Bielema era was sweeter than the past two gut-punching defeats at the hands of the Ohio State defense.
For the greatest Offensive Moment of 2012, we give the game ball (and our hearts) to Kenny G for his manufacturing a comeback-drive (and subsequent win in OT) against Purdue. This, in my mind, was a bit of an upset. Even though I seeded Kenny over Devin Smith’s catch at Miami, I really thought you fans would deem Devin’s one-handed wonder the greatest football moment of 2012. But then, I realized that MotSaG readers are some of the smartest football fans out there, and you realize that Kenny G’s heroics did not happen in a vacuum, but actually came to represent the 2012 season as a whole — a gritty, determined football team that did not quit. And for that, we salute you, Kenny Guiton.
So now that brings us to the Championship Round. There are no losers here, but One Moment must be crowned. So join us now in deciding the Most Amazing Moment of the 2012 Ohio State Football Season:
Shazier’s goal line hit [Wisconsin] vs. Kenny Guiton’s last drive [Purdue]
So which one was the better moment?
[poll id=”63″]
Love them or hate them, pre-season award watchlists are a rite of passage, a smoke signal to the fan that the college football season fast approaches. It’s a tiny morsel, a table scrap fallen from the buffet of September Saturdays, whetting the appetite. They’re a tease, and they know it.
They serve as validation to current players, recognition of their hard work and dedication from the previous year. Maybe a snub from a watchlist will be the motivation a player needs to drive him to the next level.
They also serve fans as a little forum ammunition, a sense of pride to see your player on the list of the best “such-and-such” position (never mind that some of these lists have 50+ “potential” winners).
They give us something to chat about and blog about. The Buckeyes are no strangers to preseason award watch lists, and this season is no different. A handful of awards have recently announced their watch lists. Here are the honored Buckeyes:
2013 Awards:
Outland Trophy (Best interior lineman in college football)
Andrew Norwell, G
Jack Mewhort, OT
Bronko Nagurksi Trophy (National defensive player of the year)
Christian Bryant, Ohio State, DB
Bradley Roby, Ohio State, DB
Ryan Shazier, Ohio State, LB
Maxwell Award (America’s College Player of the Year)
Carlos Hyde, RB
Braxton Miller, QB
Bednarik Award (College Defensive Player of the Year)
C.J. Barnett, S
Bradley Roby, DB
Ryan Shazier, LB
Rimington Award (Best Center)
Corey Linsley, C
Mackey Award (Top Tight End)
Jeff Heuerman, TE
(This is a guest post by Chris Kuhner, a future motsag basketball blogger)
While many Buckeye fans are anxiously awaiting the upcoming football season, Buckeye men’s Head Basketball Coach Thad Matta has his eyes set toward the future. After rounding out his coaching staff last week because of the departure of Chris Jent to the NBA (Sacramento Kings), all the focus now is on recruiting.
Matta’s 2014 class is already one of the nation’s best, with four commits on board. While the 2014 success has been great so far, Matta and his staff are not resting. They are already aggressively pursuing some of the nation’s elite prospects in the 2015 class.
At the top of that list is none other than Carlton Bragg, the super athletic 6-9, 220 pound power forward. Bragg hails from Villa Angela-St. Joseph in Cleveland, Ohio. He helped bring home the Ohio IV state championship after the school had not won it in 18 years. This is the same high school that also produced Buckeye greats Clark Kellogg and David Lighty. Not only is Bragg on the top of Ohio State’s wish list, he’s also on the wish list of schools from coast to coast. Most recruiting services have him as a national top 25 recruit in the class of 2015.
It’s easy to see why. As the game continues to move toward the perimeter, stretch fours and fives are becoming more valuable. Bragg is your quintessential stretch four. His ability to shoot the three pointer (shot over 50% last season) and put the ball on the floor makes him extremely difficult to guard. This is the kind of all-around offensive game coaches salivate over.
By nature, Bragg is reserved off the court. But on the court, his game speaks for itself. In a recent interview with 247’s Blue Devil Lair ($) , Bragg talked about his game and where he is at in the process:
BlueDevilLair: For those who haven’t been able to see you, give a scouting report to the fans.
Carlton Bragg: I just play like a big man and run the floor. I love to run the floor.
To read more of Carlton Bragg’s interview, please visit 247’s Blue Devil Lair ($).
Bragg has already been to Ohio State’s campus and is surely to make return visits as the process continues. His next scheduled event will be this upcoming week in Indianapolis at the Adidas Invitational. 2014 verbal commit Dave Bell (Garfield Heights HS) is also scheduled to attend. Hopefully Bell has a chance to let Bragg know how he feels about Ohio State.
Stay tuned, with a ton of major events in the coming month, Buckeye basketball recruiting is sure to pick up.
After floundering for the better part of a year, struggling to find the time and motivation to keep our content flowing with any consistency, I was at a crossroads earlier this summer. I didn’t know what was happening with the direction of the site. The original founders of the site (myself (Tony), SYR (Jeremiah), sportsMonkey and Trevor) had more or less run our course. We had added some people in the past (Kade, YNBA and Jason N) but even with this skeleton crew, we struggled to get content out on a consistent basis. I decided to take a hiatus from the site, get my head straight and decide if I wanted to continue on. In all honesty, I was ready to shut things down.
But for a number of reasons, that’s not what happened. I’m too stubborn to stop and too obstinate to let anyone else pilot the ship, so I decided to soldier on. But I knew we’d need help. So we lit the Bat Signal and asked if anyone out there in Buckeye Land was interested in joining us. The response was overwhelming. We had a lot of talented people offer their services. We decided to add some of these great guys to our staff of writers.
Without further ado, allow me to introduce the newest members of the MotSaG writing crew:
Andrew (@bucknut22) – Andrew is a Buckeye fan from NJ. He will be a senior in high school next year. Andrew became a Buckeye fan as a young kid when he started watching their games, ever since he’s been a huge fan. Andrew follows the football and basketball teams. He’s also a former blogger at the now defunct The Silver Bullet (RIP).
Andrew will be covering a little bit of everything for us here.
Garth (@twuckeye) – Now entering a second career, Garth is a graduate of OSU and Harvard Law School. He has authored three books
Garth will be contributing a number of topics to the site, and will be providing the first wrestling coverage we’ve ever had hear at MotSaG. Garth will also be contributing editorial content.
Shannon (@smsommers84) – Shannon is a U.S. Navy Veteran (Seabees), has had a love for the Buckeyes since a little lad, tortured by Cleveland Sports and his love for them. Enjoys Tech (mainly Android), enjoys cooking, grilling, and discovering new beers.
Shannon will be primarily acting as our New Editor, along with other content.
James (@UberGoober) – James is from Middletown, Ohio (about 30 minutes from Cincinnati) and have been there all my life. He’s been a fan of OSU football for over twenty years. He’s also tried his best to be a fan of the Bengals, but got tired of being disappointed year after year. He wanted to root for a winning team but there is no way on God’s green earth that he’d root for the Browns or the Steelers (Ravens, too) [Ed: we’ll let that part about the Browns slide].
He never attended OSU but drove through the campus just to say he went there.
James will be helping out with football content.
Josh (@SchottJosh) – Josh is a recent broadcasting graduate of Marietta College. He is always following and watching sports, especially college football. Josh is a loyal fan of the Indians, Cavaliers and of course the Buckeyes. When he’s not following sports he likes to spend time outdoors, play video games and spend time on Twitter and Google+.
Josh will be helping out with our Social Media outreach and will be a member of the writing staff.
Chris W (@CDubisms) – Chris is a Buckeyes fan who currently lives in the middle of the SEC (Huntsville, AL). He loves college football and a wide range of other sports that does not include NASCAR or hockey. He is glad that the BCS era is about end, but remains cautiously optimistic about the playoff system until he learns more about its selection process.
Chris will be joining as a staff writer, bringing content that will also include more of the college football picture at large.
Dylan (@dylanfreeman33) – Dylan is from Grand Ledge, Michigan, currently a sophomore at Michigan State University studying sports journalism. He has always been a die-hard Buckeye fan every since his parent took him to his first game when he was little. There is nothing like the ‘Shoe on a Saturday night. He plays golf and is trying out for the MSU team this year.
Dylan will be helping out with the recruiting side of our coverage.
Aaron (@avrnrgy) – Aaron will be helping out with basketball coverage
Chris K (@KuhnCeejDawg) – Chris K will be helping out with basketball recruiting.
Have a safe, enjoyable and relaxing holiday with friends and family. (Don’t blow any fingers off with an errant crap-flapper)
