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“The Grand Lounge on the first floor of the alumni house is set up for a press conference, though Ohio State has not made any formal announcement that one will be held today.”
-Bill Landis, cleveland.com
Look, I don’t need to tell you that all Buckeye eyes have been on the Longaberger Alumni House today awaiting official word on the coaching fate of Urban Meyer. However, as of the time this article was published, we still do not have any more clarity than we had when the Board of Trustees opened the public portion of their meeting at 9:00 a.m.
Since then, we have seen Meyer arrive, followed hours later by his wife Shelley. Then, as afternoon turned into evening, athletic director Gene Smith and his wife Sheila arrived.
Throughout the day, every entrance, housekeeping move, delay, food delivery, or new car in the parking lot has generated speculation, but, as of now, none of it has borne fruit. Landis has a good timeline of some of the craziness that has transpired today.
Of course, if/when a decision is announced, we will have all of the info that you need here at Land-Grant Holy Land.
“This year, fourth-year junior defensive tackle Dre’Mont Jones found himself intrigued by the Drug Enforcement Agency following a presentation to the team.”
-Tony Gerdman, The OZone
With much of the attention surrounding the Ohio State football program being fairly negative recently, it’s good to remember that no matter the outcome of the Urban Meyer saga, the program that he has built has done a lot of good for a lot of people; Real Life Wednesdays being a prime example.
Gerdman spoke to Jones about his internship with the DEA, which— unsurprisingly— Jones really wasn’t at liberty to discuss. Apparently interim head coach Ryan Day’s brother works for the law enforcement organization, and came and spoke to the team about the work that he does. Following the presentation, Jones, a sociology major, spoke to OSU’s player development director Ryan Stamper about pursuing an internship with the org.
Jones spent a week this summer with the DEA in New Hampshire, and he thinks that after football, it could be an avenue with pursuing.
“I don’t know exactly what I want to do besides play football at the moment,” he told Gerdman. “But that’s a good outlet for me. I made some good connections.”
“The back-to-back Big Ten champion Ohio State women’s basketball team will begin the 18-game conference slate on Dec. 28 when it travels to Purdue.”
-Ohio State Athletics
I know this might not be at the forefront of your radar at this point, but despite having won the last two Big Ten titles, women’s basketball coach Kevin McGuff is going to have a bit of an uphill battle this season, following the departure of nearly all of the team’s production from last year.
The Buckeyes have only four players returning from the 2017-18 campaign, and they combined for a total of zero starts and 6.5 points per game last season. Graduate student Makayla Waterman, senior Karlie Cronin, and juniors Jensen Caretti and Savitha Jayaraman will be joined on the roster this year by three freshmen and five grad transfers.
Nonetheless, OSU will play two December B1G games, before opening up 2019 by traveling to College Park, Md. to take on the Terrapins, whom the Buckeyes defeated in the finals to win the 2018 Big Ten Tournament. Maryland will return the favor by visiting Columbus on Jan. 24.
With most of the Ohio state media camped out at the alumni building, there was little swirling on the OSU news front today, especially when it came to Buckeye football. However, we do have some former-Buckeye football news to get into today.
On Nick Vannett, Seattle’s break-out star for 2018 — Stephen White, SB Nation
“The Seahawks knew they wouldn’t need Nick Vannett to set the world on fire right away. Heading into the 2018 season with both Graham and Willson gone, it is finally Vannett’s time.”
On Adolphus Washington, Buffalo’s break-out star for 2018 — Stephen White, SB Nation
“While the 6’4, 295-pound Washington is pretty much prototypical size for the 5-technique role he had under Ryan, the scheme switch meant he would be more of a full-time interior defensive tackle.”
On Sam Hubbard’s integration to the Bengals’ defense — John Sheeran, Cincy Jungle
“Even though Hubbard’s handful of pressures and his sack came against a well-known poor pass protector, it’s still nice to see his promising work from training camp carry over onto the field. Hubbard only trailed fellow defensive end Jordan Willis and Bates in snaps with 36.”
STICK TO SPORTS
- Don’t freak out, Marshmallows, but “Veronica Mars” might be coming back to TV!
- How an international hacker turned stolen press releases into $100 million.
- Rebuilding Puerto Rico, from the ground up.
- Inside the storied history of Manhattan’s Trinity Church.
- Go behind-the-scenes of the Go-Gos’ musical “Head Over Heels” with the star and choreographer.