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Buckeye Blogger Network
“When I got my first football helmet for Christmas at age five, my grandma came over to the house. ’Hey, Chris’ she said, ‘you wanna play some football?’ I tackled her right there in the living room. I mean, I took her out. She bounced right up, though. You could tell she was a Spielman.”
A quintessential line from Chris Spielman that made me laugh out loud and in some ways, what I expected when I bought “That’s Why I’m Here” by Chris Spielman and Bruce Hooley. On the flip side, there is obviously no question I expected this to be extremely depressing considering the journey and ultimate outcome for Stefanie Spielman was no secret at all. As with any good book about a life story, there needs to be a balance between joy and pain. It doesn’t have as much to do about the flow as it does to make you truly ‘feel’ and become engaged…at least in my opinion.
That’s exactly where my problem came in. I consider myself to be an open and honest person with people I have grown to trust, but that “feeling” part is different territory. Unfortunately, my recruiting background has taught me to be more cautious and pessimistic than I’d care to admit at this point. So halfway through reading this book, when I decided to write this article, I started to get nervous. Not only would I have to become more transparent, but my opinion is no longer what it has been when writing/talking about sports. It is not an analysis just of X’s and O’s. It is not just a matter of perspective either. Well, it is, but this new perspective can actually have a hard line of being wrong. It is a sole person’s view of the suffering a family had to endure for over a decade and trying to articulate that is more intimidating than it may appear.
So what is “That’s Why I’m Here” really about? Football? Cancer? Tests of faith and family? Love? Yes. Read More
“Rolling in the deep…”
Today, Coach Meyer announced the “two deep” roster following spring football and evaluation. As you remember, he has previously said that this will be the look entering the fall season- that July and August are not times to determine positions, but to get ready to play.
We will be adjusting our depth charts to reflect this announcement, and can see no real surprises (except for the Boren Legacy at center). Be sure to keep an eye on that contested longsnapper competition, though- it’s always a highlight of the fall.
Here’s the press release from the OSU SID regarding this-
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This is just a taste of what’s to come.
The one and only 2012 Ohio State Football Movie Trailer’s official release: August 6, 2012
With a solid foundation already laid in 2013, the staff can focus on putting the finishing touches on the class while beginning to turn their attention to 2014.
Let me start by saying that it is quite remarkable how far along the 2013 class already is considering we are still over eight months away from signing day.
Although the quick turnaround on the commitments of linebackers Alex Anzalone and Lewis Neal shortly after the Spring Game was less than ideal (to put it lightly), with so much time left before ink goes on paper, there is no doubt that those losses will be compensated for.
One thing that may change, however, is the priorities the staff pursues moving forward.
In other words, the two new openings might not be filled by other linebackers.
A shift in focus following the attrition seems even more likely given the solid 2011 group of linebackers and a 2014 linebacker class that already looks very strong.
Regardless of where the priorities are, the staff will be able to focus on their top targets to fill the remaining spots in the class, which will no doubt result in another outstanding group of players.
Here is a position by position look at how things currently stand in the 2013 class and a brief glimpse ahead to 2014.
All The Better To Hear You With
Buckeye 411
So, what did we miss? Actually, quite a bit.
Some of you may have noticed that our recruiting pages haven’t been updated since the end of April (until now, that is).
This has been due to yours truly being in Hawaii for the past two weeks.
The good news is that the six hour time difference has made it difficult to fall asleep at a normal hour back in Ohio, giving me plenty of time to catch up on everything I missed over the past 14 days or so.
Our recruiting boards have been fully updated, so check them out for all the latest news and offers.
Special mention to the 2014 class, which has seen 15 new offers go out during my absence.
Things have obviously been picking up in that class, and I expect the 2013 class to come together even more during summer camps- especially during Friday Night Lights at the end of July.
Now that I am back from vacation, we promise not to leave you hanging for so long without your BBC recruiting fix moving forward.
We will be bringing the recruiting updates on a regular basis once again.
It should be fun.
Happy May, everybody! Let’s check out the ways that the BBN fellers are keeping out of trouble.
As part of their ongoing “Favorite Buckeye” series, Dan at OHD gave us a look at wrestler Kevin Randleman, who might just join Vrable in the BBAMF Hall of Fame:
There’s a lot of talk about toughness in sports. In fact, some time there is so much talk that it ends up getting tuned out. Well, I assure you that when I tell you that Kevin Randleman’s 1993 was one of the most impressive displays of toughness that I have ever seen in any sport, I’m not being hyperbolic. Randleman entered the tournament as the #1 overall seed and he backed it up scoring an impressive first-round victory over Clarion’s Dan Payne. In the second round, however, things took an ugly turn. During his match against Central Connecticut’s Mark Frushone, Randleman suffered a dislocated jaw. The injury wasn’t caused by an illegal move, so if Randleman couldn’t get back on the mat within the allotted “injury time” he would forfeit the match and be eliminated from the tournament. However, instead of taking the easy and understandable way out, Randleman popped his jaw back into place and kept wrestling.
The Yahooligans over at the newest OSU Blog and rookie member of the BBN took umbrage at the way that many in the media were responding to some of former OSU Quarterback Terrelle Pryor’s comments in Sports Illustrated, and asked some pointed questions of the “media elite”-
Then there is ESPN. I don’t even know where to start with these guys. Brian Bennett of the Big Ten Blog drew the short straw to do the writeup on this and, as usual, kowtowed to his employer’s agenda. Here’s a tip Brian. When the NCAA has investigated Pryor and found zero evidence of an infraction occurring, that’s probably a good indication that it didn’t occur. For instance, you referenced the ESPN story about how Pryor was receiving a steady stream of checks from Dennis Talbott for signing memorabilia so that Talbott could sell it. I, as well as many others, have talked with Talbott. He categorically denies giving Pryor any monies. In fact, the NCAA declined to even contact Talbott as part of their investigation.
One thing is for sure when you take over as the head coach at THE Ohio State University, you better know what it means to be an Ohio person. A lot of people believe Coach John Cooper got the top post at Ohio State back in 1988 simply because he beat TTUN in the Rose Bowl the year before while at Arizona State. Truth is he really probably got the job because of his history as a head coach and as a person.
Coop. There he is.
John Cooper grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee in the 1940’s and 50’s. He went into the U.S. Army right out of high school for two years before playing college ball at Iowa State. People then knew he was going to have a special talent for coaching with his abilities on the field that eventually led to him being team MVP and captain his senior year. He stayed on as an assistant coach with the Cyclones before taking a similar position with Oregon State. He made stops at UCLA, Kansas, and Kentucky before landing his first head coaching position at Tulsa in 1977.
His first season with the Golden Hurricane was 3-8 but they became pretty good after that winning five straight Missouri Valley Conference titles. Tulsa was in and out of the MVC for a year and when they returned Coach Cooper had them loaded. He began to put together a system for how he would recruit players and used it to bolster his resume. In the Top 25 ranked season of 1982, Cooper and the Golden Hurricanes went 10-1 and their only loss on the season was to Arkansas. This same year that SMU had the Pony Express, Coach Cooper had himself two 1,000 rushers in Michael Gunter and Ken Lacy and was called the Palomino Express. Despite its ranking and great season Tulsa wasn’t invited to a bowl game. Coach Cooper had the makings of a top-notch coach and was hired to take over at Arizona State in 1985. Read More
