Buckeye Bits: Ohio State gets their first 2021 signature, Heyward got paid, Braxton’s Spinniversary, more

Happy Labor Day, friends! Hopefully your long weekend was spent soaking up these last few days of summer. Or if you’re like me, you may have spent your weekend decorating your home for fall. There is now not a single corner of my apartment that is pumpkin-less.

Let me just say, anyone who tells you that “they don’t want summer to end” either has a pool, lives by the ocean, does not live in a major city or is lying to your face. Once it hits late August/September, the novelty of summer has worn off. We’ve all taken our summer vacations, we’re sick of sweating every time we go outside and I swear the mosquito population doubles in size. Once it hits Sept. 1, summer is dead to me. She no longer exists. Yes, it’s still 80 degrees in Philly, but I don’t care. I’m ignoring her, consuming pumpkin-flavored everything, wearing hoodies and doing all the fall activities. Speaking of which...

Absolutely nothing screams fall like NFL Sundays. Waking up to a nice crisp 65-degree day, turning on SportsCenter to get a gist of the day’s lineup, putting on your team’s jersey, cracking open a pumpkin ale, the smell of buffalo chicken dip and chili slow cooking in the crockpot— yeah, football hits different in the fall.

While the loss of Ohio State’s football season still stings, the NFL picking back up this weekend should surely take the edge off. Things are looking up! *knocks aggressively on wood coffee table*

Let’s get into the day’s headlines.

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From around Land-Grant Holy Land...

Column: Identifying the best possible Ohio State opener

Meredith Hein, LGHL

The Buckeyes were scheduled to kickoff on Saturday, but alas, they did not. So, Meredith took a look at who would make the perfect hypothetical opener for Ohio State based on timing, location and quality of opponent.

Ohio State making early impressions on a handful of 2022 standouts

Gene Ross, LGHL

Last Tuesday commenced the official contact period for the 2022 recruiting class, and Ryan Day and his staff hit the ground running, reaching out to a number of their top targets in hopes of making early, good impressions.

Ohio State 2020 Virtual Season Kickoff Preview: Week 1 vs. Buffalo Bulls

George Eisner, LGHL

Our Virtual Ohio State 2020 season kicked off on Saturday, and it was an absolute blast!

Be sure to toon in next Saturday to watch the virtual Buckeyes take on the virtual Oregon Ducks!

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From around the gridiron...

While you were enjoying your Labor Day weekend, hopefully taking a break from Twitter and all the Big Ten chaos, Sir Yacht was still doing what he does best: lying! This tweet is by far my favorite one yet.

I’m so confused. Does he actually think he’s fooling anyone? Is he now doing it as a joke? Has it been a joke the whole time? What is his end goal?!

He’s not even exaggerating when he says “14th or 15th.”

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During a press conference on Thursday, in regards to his communication with the Big Ten, Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott told reporters that “a high priority for the Pac-12 would be to align our seasons” because “it would be awesome to have some of the traditional postseason opportunities the Pac-12 and Big Ten have enjoyed with each other.”

To which Austin Ward of Lettermen Row says: “No, it wouldn’t.”

And I’d have to agree. As Austin writes, “the Buckeyes are built to win it all right now,” and playing for anything less is just pointless.

The Big Ten’s top rival is the SEC. That’s the league it should be measuring itself against, doing everything possible to ensure it doesn’t fall behind and working collaboratively with if necessary to protect the season.

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Our Matt Tamanini is working on a column regarding all the silly rumors that have taken place over the last few weeks, but first, he needs some data.

Personally, I find them entertaining, but unimportant. These non-journalists’ sources (if they even exist) are not people in high places making the decisions. They’re playing with your emotions, begging for retweets and cannot be trusted. However, I find it thoroughly amusing to see what these people come up with. (Re: Ohio State may leave the Big Ten and go independent)

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On Labor Day of 2015, Braxton Miller made his debut at H-Back for Ohio State and then made one of the most iconic plays in college football history.

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Ohio State officially signed the first member of its recruiting class of 2021 on Saturday— Australian punter Jesse Mirco.

Mirco was able to sign early as he is 23 years old, however the rest of Ohio State’s 2021 recruiting class will have to wait until the first day of this year’s early signing period (Dec. 16) to sign.

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Like I said above, NFL football is back this weekend, and Steve Helwagen of Bucknuts is here to help you get your Buckeye fix! Check out his breakdown of every single former Ohio State player on current NFL rosters.

And then check back into LGHL next Tuesday, as we will have a recap on how those former players did in their respective games.

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Another former Buckeye got PAID paid.

Steelers defensive tackle Cam Heyward is now the NFL’s highest-paid defensive player over the age of 30. Heyward has spent his entire career with the Steelers, as they selected him in the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft. This season marks his final year of his current contract with the team. Heyward has missed only 10 games in his nine NFL seasons, has been selected to each of the last three Pro Bowls, and earned All-Pro honors in 2017 and 2019.

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NFL rookies Chase Young, Jeff Okudah, Damon Arnette and J.K. Dobbins are living proof that the Ohio State-NFL pipeline is alive and well.

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Pain.

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From everywhere else...

Things are...not going well in Ann Arbor. One of the most popular rumors floating around is that Michigan’s president is the only one standing in the way of a college football season. Whether that’s true or not (its not), he has much bigger things to worry about right now.

The Graduate Employees’ Organization, which represents more than 2,000 graduate student instructors and graduate student staff assistants, have voted to strike until Friday in response to Michigan’s reopening plans.

“GEO is asking for the diversion of funds from the Division of Public Safety and Security and more COVID-19 protections, such as the right to work remotely for all graduate student instructors, more transparency in opening plans and protection from hiring discrimination for those who wish to work remotely amid the pandemic.”

Per the GEO’s press release:

“We highlight that GEO views our anti-policing demands as inseparable from our COVID demands,” the release read. “They are linked explicitly, through the University’s decision to expand the policing of our community in a perverse effort to enforce social distancing, and implicitly, through the ways the crises of the pandemic and racist policing both disproportionately affect the most vulnerable among us.”

The union is also asking undergraduate students not to attend class, virtually or in person, which, as said in the tweet above, could substantially disrupt academic operations throughout the week.

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Two of my pet peeves: gender reveal parties and humans destroying the earth.