Category: Buckeyes Wire

Ohio State football All-Decade Team, Offense

We reflect on the last decade of Ohio State football, and who would be on an all-offensive team from 2010 through 2019.

The sun already set on college football down in New Orleans just a couple of weeks ago. The Super Bowl just gave us our last hurrah as well Sunday night. So, we’ve got a question for you: Are you missing the good ‘ole American game yet? Yeah, yeah, there’s the whole reboot of the XFL, but for all intents and purposes, the game we know and love is now on a hiatus until the fall really.

But that’s okay. We’re going to fill that time with some reflections on the decade that just passed us by for Ohio State. It was one that was filled with several Big Ten Championships, a national title, and a slew of wins over That Team Up North.

But who are the best of the best from the 2010s? There’s a ton of really good players to choose from, and we’re doing our best to identify them in a series of posts dealing with the best of the decade of Ohio State football.

We’re starting with our All-Decade Offensive Team, with the All-Decade Defensive Team up next. So, here it goes. If you were to put a team together on the side of the ball responsible for scoring points, what OSU players would you choose from 2010 through 2019? Here’s our stab at it.

Next … The skill positions at Ohio State

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Michael Thomas tells next generation to have “mamba mentality”

Saints’ superstar receiver and former Ohio State Buckeye Michael Thomas told the next generation to carry along the “Mamba Mentality.”

Saints’ superstar receiver and former Ohio State Buckeye Michael Thomas told the next generation to carry along the “Mamba Mentality.” This came after Thomas was awarded the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year.

Just as important, Thomas’ career year came after he signed a ginormous contract with New Orleans, showing that he wasn’t going to settle after securing a huge payday.

Thomas got to where he is by having that to so-called mamba mentality. He wasn’t the most highly rated recruit coming out of high school, but his work ethic is legendary in Columbus.

Named after Kobe Bryant who passed away just over a week ago in a helicopter accident, Thomas reminded the next generation to keep that attitude alive.

In theory, the mamba mentality is where you won’t give up, you won’t be outworked, and you’ll live up to the moments to make your dreams come true, like Kobe Bryant did throughout his illustrious NBA career.

Thomas is replicating the success of Bryant, already having several records of his own.

This past season, which led to being given the award, Thomas broke the league’s single-season receptions record, totaling 149. He also notched a league-high 1,725 receiving yards.

Hard work brought Thomas to where he is today, and he wants the future generation to understand that it’s because of his hard work, a characteristic Kobe taught his loyal supports so much of.

Mamba mentality indeed.

Big Ten proposal for one-time transfer exception will have mixed consequences

The Big Ten has proposed a one-time transfer allowance for all student-athletes. It’ll have mixed consequences.

If you stopped watching college football, or college sports in general about ten years ago and decided to pick it back up this past year or two, there’s a good chance you’d be shocked by all the changes. One of the movements that’s changed things drastically is the transfer portal.

It’s now easier to transfer thanks to the ability to simply put your name in the portal rather than going through the red tape of engineering discussions with opposing programs and coaching staffs through your own athletic department. It’s also has become easier to get waivers approved for the NCAA’s undergraduate transfer rule that makes athletes sit out a year.

What has resulted is not exactly free agency in college sports, but something moving closer towards it. Heck, just last year alone, three of the four Heisman finalists were kids that transferred to greener pastures and carved out a better situation for themselves. That, of course, will do nothing to curb some of the transfer of top-end athletes.

It’s been a management nightmare though for coaches, players and administrators. You now have to try and figure out how many scholarships are available, manage to any defections, and even recruit players out of the transfer portal that could make a difference for your program.

What has ensued is not the wild, wild, west exactly, but something closer to a car auction without a garage. All parties involved agree there needs to be better oversight, but nobody has the answers.

But the Big Ten is trying to get in front of it by waving the white flag just a bit. This past week news surfaced about the conference quietly proposing a one-time transfer option for all athletes. It would allow them a one-time exemption to transfer as an undergraduate without having to sit out a year. This according to a report from CBS Sports.

The “year-in-residency” rule has been in place since 1951, but it currently only pertains to five sports — football, baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, and hockey. Now, the Big Ten believes it’s time to make it uniform and make things more transparent and understandable.

We’ll see where this goes, but there are pros and cons that are evident on the surface. While instituting a one-time transfer would take away the ambiguity of when and who can get an exception to the one-year in residency rule, it would further open the flood gates for kids to transfer. Given the opportunity to move on instead of develop and stick things out, many might pull the rip-chord early and miss out on a better situation in front of them.

There will be two schools of thought. Many will push the benefits of sticking with something, working through adversity and coming out the better end with a life lesson. There will be another — and perhaps more vocal — side of the argument that will praise the advocate for the individual’s freedom of choice. Yes, there will be Twitter fights.

Anyway, there’s going to more come out on this. Other conferences, and the NCAA itself, will need to study and weigh in on this proposal. The earliest the Big Ten could adopt the rule would be in 2021, so there’s at least a little bit of time, though that’ll be here before you know it.

Whatever happens, between the name, image, and likeness stuff and this, big-time college athletics continues to evolve.

 

Ohio State men’s tennis upset No. 1 Texas Saturday

The Ohio State men’s tennis team upset the No. 1 ranked Texas Longhorns in dominating fashion Saturday.

While you’ve been pacing and wringing your hands over what the Ohio State basketball team is going to do next, or planning a Super Bowl party, there are some pretty extraordinary things going on with other Buckeye athletic teams.

The Ohio State men’s tennis team would qualify. All it did over the weekend was knock off the No. 1 ranked Texas Longhorns in dominating fashion. As it almost always does for the Buckeyes, it started by taking the doubles point. Kyle Seelig and Cannon Kingsley defeated Chih Chi Huang and Cleeve Harper of Texas 6-4, followed by Ohio State’s team of John McNally and Robert Cash knocking off Christrian Sigsgaard and Yuya Ito of Texas 6-4.

With the Buckeyes then up 1-0, it was time to move on to the singles matches. Kyle Seelig struck first and made quick work of the Longhorns’ Siem Woldeab 6-0, 6-2 to put Ohio State up 2-0.

Texas then got a point back to cut it to 2-1 when its top singles option, No. 2 ranked Yuya Ito, got it done against John McNally 6-3, 6-3. The Buckeyes though would take the next two matches to seal the upset 4-1. James Trotter beat Cleeve Harper 6-4, 6-3, and freshman Robert Cash clinched it with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Chih Chi Huang. 

That set off the celebration at the OSU Varsity Tennis Center and improved Ohio State’s indoor record to 6-0. The Buckeyes have only dropped one team point all year, and you can expect it’ll move up when the next rankings come out.

Chris Holtmann refreshingly comes to defense of mental health after Indiana game

Ohio State got a big win over Indiana Saturday, but that wasn’t the first thing on Holtmann’s mind after the game. It was on mental health.

The Ohio State basketball team got a much-needed win over Indiana at home Saturday. It was another sign that the Buckeye basketball team has started to figure some things out after a midseason swoon. Two wins in a row and suddenly OSU is moving further away from bubble territory. It had to feel good for head coach Chris Holmann.

But that’s not what he wanted to talk about as he sat down in the postgame press conference. Instead, he went right into the reaction of guard D.J. Carton’s decision to take time away from the program to focus on his mental health. And it was a long statement right out of the gate. One in which Holtmann seemed intent on delivering.

“I want to begin here by thanking our fans for their support of D.J. in his pursuit of mental health, overall health,” Holtmann said. “The wide, vast majority of our fans I know are so unbelievably supportive of him in that — and I just want to thank our fan base for that. For the rare few that tweeted at me this is somehow the reflection of our program, reflection on me personally — guilty, guilty. So be it. You can take your antiquated thinking somewhere else.”

Holtmann then continued to explain the emphasis his program and Ohio State in general, will put on the players’ health and well-being going forward.

“There is nothing, nothing more important in our program than our players’ physical, mental health and overall growth,” said Holtmann. “Nothing. And that will always be the case. There’s not a game — there’s nothing. And if it’s somehow a reflection, I think we all know that’s wrong. I really appreciate the overall kind of overwhelming support for a young man in his pursuit of this, and I know he does too.”

“Our staff here, our medical staff, this university is comprehensive in its care of our players physical and mental. Comprehensive. I’ve never seen anything like it. I think we’re on the cutting edge in a lot of ways in terms of our staffing, our willingness to deal with our players’ issues, and it’s a day and age where we see this more and more, particularly in this age group and particularly with student-athletes.”

Here’s Holtmann addressing the situation head-on. You can watch yourself thanks to the Big Ten Network’s Twitter feed.

You tell ’em Chris. It’s so refreshing in today’s day and age for a coach and athletic department to be so supportive of a kid that was brave enough to put himself out there, knowing the stigma attached to doing such a thing by a high-profile male athlete.

I have to say, though I haven’t covered Ohio State athletics as long as other colleagues, I’ve never been more proud to be associated with the OSU program, albeit as just someone that writes stories that don’t mean nearly as much as what we’re talking about here.

And for that minority group Holtmann is talking about that sees this as a negative — shame on you. Shame on your win at all costs judgemental attitudes. If you’ve lived with mental illness (as I have and currently still do), you know that it can be a very dark place. It can also come out of nowhere for seemingly no reason.

The bottom line is that we should all applaud how Holtmann and Ohio State have handled a young man in need. We wish Carton well and so should you. If he makes it back on the court soon, then great. If not, there are things more important, such as life itself.

Get better Carton, and good on you Ohio State for putting more emphasis on helping a young man who needs embracing as opposed to the alternative.

Ohio State Wrestling solid in close loss to Nebraska

The Ohio State Buckeyes lost a very tight wrestling dual against Nebraska on Sunday, but they looked strong in the process.

If the college wrestling season has taught us anything so far, it’s very likely that the top four teams in the country are all from the Big Ten. Iowa is ahead of everyone with Penn State, Nebraska, and Ohio State just behind them.

It’s no surprise, then, that the dual match between Ohio State and Nebraska went down to the wire. Don’t let the 19-14 final score deceive you. The Buckeyes were in this match until literally the final second.

The dual began at 174 pounds, where Mikey Labriola beat Ohio State’s Kaleb Romero on a last-second takedown to win the battle of Top 10 wrestlers. That match was tight as can be, but there are no ties in wrestling, and someone had to win. There’s no shame or hurt for Romero in not coming out ahead. The same is true for Nebraska’s Taylor Venz, who lost to Rocky Jordan (in another ranked matchup) on a late reversal. After two matches, each team had one win, and the margins in each were razor-thin.

The next match was not as close, as No. 1 Kollin Moore got two early takedowns against No. 10 Eric Schultz and never relinquished the lead. Schultz kept the match close enough to avoid giving bonus points, which is always important. Nebraska followed that with its second win, as Gary Traub couldn’t out-wrestle David Jensen’s size advantage over him.

Nebraska took its second lead of the dual when Malik Heinselman couldn’t make good on any of his attacks, several of which led to points the other way. 125 pounds is quickly becoming Ohio State’s most troublesome weight, as Heinselman hasn’t been able to replicate his form that saw him into the NCAA tournament last year. Jordan Decatur then lost his match at the last second as well, to No. 14 Ridge Lovett. There’s no shame in that, regardless of the team outcome.

Luke Pletcher and Sammy Sasso–who, along with Moore, are Ohio State’s three real National Champion contenders–each earned bonus points with Major Decisions, Sasso’s the courtesy of four back points with just a few seconds remaining. After Peyton Robb beat Quinn Kinner, who moved up from 133 pounds to 157 pounds, the dual would come down to its final match, as the score entering it was 14-14. (Kinner’s move up to 157 pounds is interesting and worth a longer discussion. He’s new to the weight and it showed in his match, but he also seems to have more upside than Elijah Cleary.)

The final match was a good one. Isaiah White is a Top 5 wrestler, and he was just a bit better than Ethan Smith until White injured his ankle. After that, it was a very even match. The 19-14 final score is a product of an ill-advised last-second move by Smith, that got countered into a takedown and pin (Nebraska then lost a team point for storming the mat).

All in all, it was a great dual, and a strong showing by both programs. Each wrestler competed very well against talented (and in almost all cases ranked) wrestlers of the opposition. Nebraska will move up in the rankings after a well-deserved win, but these teams are both clearly very good, and right there behind Iowa and Penn State.

Top five Super Bowl performances by former Ohio State football players

There haven’t been a ton of all-time performances by Ohio State players in the Super Bowl, but here are the top five all-time.

It doesn’t get any bigger than the Super Bowl. It’s American by culture and inception, but now a worldwide phenomenon, and the most televised and watched event on an annual basis.

So it’s no secret then that a lifelong dream of almost any football player is to make it to the NFL, be in a Super Bowl, and have a major impact on winning the game. Somewhat surprisingly though, there hasn’t been a ton of Ohio State greats with major starring roles in the biggest of big games.

But there have been a few worth noting, and that’s what we’re going to do here. Here are the top ten performances by a former Ohio State football player in a Super Bowl. Who knows, maybe Nick Bosa or Darron Lee add to the story Sunday.

Next … No. 5

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Ohio State men’s hockey takes down Michigan for series split

The Ohio State men’s hockey team beat Michigan Saturday night to split the series and move back into a tie for 1st place in the Big Ten.

It was a heartbreaker Friday night for the Ohio State men’s hockey team. But Saturday was different, as the Buckeyes took care of business against Arch Rival Michigan 4-1 up in Ann Arbor.

OSU meant business early on, getting ahead by two goals in the first period to put the pressure on the Wolverines. Matt Miller broke the seal just :43 seconds into the game to get things cranking. Jaedon Leslie scored his first goal as a Buckeye when he added a second tally with 10:17 left in the period.

Michigan would try to claw back when it put one in the back of the net halfway through the second period, but that would be all the Wolverines could muster.

Austin Pooley put OSU up by two goals in the 3rd period when he converted off a 2-1 odd-man rush with 8:21 left in the game. Then, Quinn Preston added an empty netter with under one-minute left, and that’s how things would end, with the Buckeyes notching a much needed 4-1 victory.

The win moved OSU back into a tie for first place after Notre Dame helped by taking down Penn State. Michigan State is just one-point behind though and has two games in hand.

Two big series now loom over the next two weekends. The Buckeyes take on Penn State at home next Friday and Saturday, then head to East Lansing for two against Michigan State. Those will go a long way in determining the Big Ten regular-season champion.

 

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Nick Bosa becomes third former Ohio State player in four years to win AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year

San Francisco 49er Nick Bosa became the 3rd Ohio State player in four years to win the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year Award.

The Ohio State football program had a couple former players pick up some NFL hardward Saturday. Former receiver and current New Orleans Saint Michael Thomas took home the Offensive Player of the Year. And on the other side of the ball, the San Francisco 49ers Nick Bosa took home the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year.

It’s yet another accolade for Bosa. The former Ohio State defensive end already took home the Pepsi Defensive Player of the Year Award, as voted on by fans.

Bosa hit the ground running as a rookie, grabbing a starting defensive end spot and putting up some impressive numbers. He totaled 47 total tackles, nine sacks, 19 tackles for loss, an interception, one forced fumble, and two fumble recoveries.

Even more impressive though for the Ohio State program is that Bosa makes it three times in the last four years a former Buckeye has won the award. Big brother Joey won it in 2016, and defensive back Marshon Lattimore took it home in 2017.

If you want recruiting materials, there it is. Go get ’em Larry Johnson and Kerry Coombs. Bring in some more studs on defense. Oh, and by the way, Chase Young and Jeff Okudah are on the clock for next year.

 

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion.

We have a forum and message board now. Get in on the conversation about Ohio State athletics by joining the Buckeyes Wire Forum.

Ohio State football gets commitment from 2021 four-star defensive tackle

Four-star 2021 defensive tackle Michael Hall Jr. announced his verbal commitment to Ohio State Saturday.

Boom!

Ohio State football got another big-time commitment today for the 2021 class. Four-star defensive tackle Michael Hall Jr, announced his commitment to the Buckeyes on his Twitter account Saturday. He makes the tenth recruitment for what is building to become a sensational class.

Out of Streetboro, Ohio, Hall Jr. is rated as the No. 19 overall defensive tackle in the class, and the ninth rated recruit in the state of Ohio according to 247Sports. He chose OSU over the likes of Florida State, Michigan State, Penn State, and others.

It’s still extremely early, but the commitment from Hall Jr. catapults Ohio State back into the No. 1 spot over No. 2 Clemson in the 247Sports composite team recruiting rankings for 2021.