Nick Bosa and Ed Oliver lead the 2019 draft class

“Nick Bosa is a second-generation superstar at defensive end for Ohio State. His brother, Joey, and dad, John, were both first-rounders, and he looks like the next high pick in a family that also features a mob boss: his great-grandfather, Tony Accardo.”

-Matt Miller, Bleacher Report

Nick Bosa’s hype is reaching a level that may eventually surpass his brother by season’s end. While he may be sidelined for a few weeks with his recent “core injury,” the younger Bosa brother is a star, unequivocally, and the NFL is well aware of that. At this point, it feels like Bosa is all but a sure thing to be a top five pick in the 2019 class, and the only thing that can stop that would be a long-term injury, or Nick shockingly deciding to stay in Columbus for another year.

It’s wild to say, considering how good Joey was, but it feels like Nick is even more dominant at this point than his older brother was. From his technique to his speed and athleticism, the younger Bosa is as good a defensive line prospect as you’ll find, and I won’t be surprised when the Bills draft him with the first pick in the 2019 draft.

There is, however, a second truly elite defensive prospect that goes a bit underappreciated at times. For as dominant as Nick Bosa is, Ed Oliver, Houston’s defensive tackle, may be just as good. He’s probably the best athlete that I’ve ever seen playing defensive tackle. While Nick probably won’t get an invitation to the Heisman ceremony in New York given that he could be out for other a month with his “core injury,” Oliver absolutely should.

“The pass will guarantee access to all 19 home games in 2018-19 and will be available for just $99 per pass (limit of four passes per person). Fans will have the opportunity to have a different seat location for every game, with at least four games having seats assigned in the lower level. Seat locations will be assigned 24-48 hours prior to tipoff and sent to the pass holder’s iPhone or Android phone, which they will use to enter the Schottenstein Center.”

-Ohio State Athletics

The Scarlet and Gray Pass is back! For those who don’t know what that means, the Scarlet and Gray Pass was introduced last season as a way to get more people at Ohio State’s home basketball games. As someone who had it last season, I can vouch for it’s greatness, and I’m super happy to see it return despite Ohio State’s improvements on the court.

It’s a pretty cheap way to see more Buckeye basketball games, support the team, and if you’re someone with a younger child, it’s a great way to introduce a him or her to Buckeye sports in a way that won’t absolutely destroy your wallet like Buckeye football does. The basketball team is going to be a lot of fun this year, and they deserve a sold-out crowd at every home game, so get out and support them!

I don’t like a lot of the ways that Ohio State handles ticket prices for athletic events, and I think it’s pretty absurd how pricey football (and some basketball) tickets can get, so I support any efforts like this to make things more affordable. Hopefully the university introduces even more ways for fans that don’t have infinite money to still support their team.

But for a month things were different. And while Day was getting pulled in a bunch of different directions as full-time acting head coach, someone had to help him when it comes to coaching Dwayne Haskins and the OSU quarterbacks. That someone is Corey Dennis, a senior quality control coach and Meyer’s son-in-law.

-Bill Landis, Cleveland.com

Urban Meyer sure does love hiring family members and friends, huh? It feels like we should be a little concerned that the head coach at a major football program has made several hires based entirely around a prior relationship with that coach (Bill Davis, Zach Smith, Corey Dennis), but hey, Ohio State still wins most of their games, so I guess it’s not worth really complaining about at this point.

Regardless, this story about Corey Dennis, the husband of Urban’s daughter Nicki, was interesting and honestly pretty surprising. Dwayne Haskins describes him as “[his] personal quarterbacks coach,” and goes on to talk about how Ryan Day has taught Corey quite a bit about quarterback play, and what Dwayne’s reads are supposed to be on any given play.

I have plenty of questions about how sustainable this kind of situation is, but to this point, Haskins has been one of the best quarterbacks in the country, so it’s hard to doubt those results. While Dennis seemed to be doing fine in this odd roll, it’s probably still a good thing to have Ryan Day back to coaching the offense and quarterbacks full-time, rather than delegating the handling of his star quarterback to a 26-year-old former wide-receiver from a triple-option school.

Buckeyes in the NFL

It was another good start to the NFL weekend for former Buckeye football players in last night as the Browns got their first win since 2016, topping the Jets, 21-17. Four Buckeyes were involved in the game, and all four had pretty good showings, though the Browns duo of Carlos Hyde and Denzel Ward stole the show a bit from Darron Lee and Terrelle Pryor.

Hyde ran for 98 yards on 23 carries, and found the endzone twice, including a short touchdown run with about two minutes left that would end up as the game-winner for Cleveland. It was a big day for Carlos off the field as well, as it happened to be his 28th birthday, and shortly after the game, the Hyde family welcomed their first child into the world, Carlos Jr!

While he may not have had such a big day off the field, Denzel Ward had a huge day on it, as in just his third game in the league, Ward forced yet another turnover, snatching the ball from Robby Anderson shortly after a catch. Ward is currently tied with several players for most turnovers forced so far this season, with three. He also had four tackles, including one for a loss.

On the other side of the ball, Darron Lee racked up seven tackles, two for a loss, and looks to be fully coming into his own in the league after two rough years to start his career. Pryor had one catch for 25 yards against his former team.

Ohio State weekend schedule

Stick to sports

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