Tag: 2016 ohio state

247Sports: Notre Dame in the mix for nations top 2023 offensive tackle

If Freeman and Hiestand pull this one off…. WOW

For many years the Irish held the mantle of [autotag]O-Line U[/autotag] and although recently there has been a slight lull in production, they could very well be taking back the title. On the current roster, three offensive linemen, tackles [autotag]Blake Fisher[/autotag] and [autotag]Joe Alt[/autotag] along with center [autotag]Jarrett Patterson[/autotag] will be drafted high when they declare to the NFL.

Of the 2022 recruiting class, [autotag]Billy Schrauth[/autotag], [autotag]Joey Tanona[/autotag], [autotag]Ty Chan[/autotag] and [autotag]Aamil Wagner[/autotag] were some of the most highly thought of signees, each of them will start their careers on the o-line as well. The 2023 class already has commitments from [autotag]Sullivan Absher[/autotag] and [autotag]Sam Pendleton[/autotag], but [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] is still looking for the headliner of the offensive line.

Enter Massachusetts’ [autotag]Samson Okunlola[/autotag], a six-foot-six-inch and 295-pound future star. He’s viewed as a five-star prospect and 247Sports Brian Dohn believes that the Irish are one of the few teams that realistically have a shot at landing Okunlola’s eventual signature.

It won’t be easy for returning offensive line coach [autotag]Harry Hiestand[/autotag], as Penn State, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan, Texas A&M, Oregon, Florida, and Pittsburgh were also mentioned as potential destinations for Okunlola as well.

Dohn, however gives the Irish a fighting chance, due to “the academics, the idea of what the degree means on a national level after graduation and playing at a prestigious school are all things that could resonate” with the mammoth tackle. What isn’t in the Irish’s favor however was that Okunlola has very to visit South Bend and didn’t stop by during his spring visit to the Midwest.

As Dohn mentions that Okunlola will take visits later in the year and most likely very few will be during the season due to his high school playing all their games on Saturday’s. Either way, Freeman and Hiestand are in for quite a battle for the tackles eventual signature, but one where they currently are seen as having a legit shot at.

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What is Jim Harbaugh Talking About Now?

Jim Harbaugh must live in an alternate universe if he actually believes what he recently said about Michigan football.

I have to give Jim Harbaugh some credit.  Even if something couldn’t be further from the truth, he’s willing to try to speak it into existence like perhaps no other coach in college athletics.

Harbaugh spoke with 247Sports earlier this week and discussed how Michigan has performed since he took over as head coach in 2015.  When asked how close Michigan is to a national championship, Harbaugh claims they’ve already been as close to winning one as you can be without actually doing so.

I mean, just look back over the last the last years that we’ve been here last five years. About as close as you can possibly be. But you got to put it over the top. That’s what drives us.  -Jim Harbaugh

Uhh, what?

Harbaugh has to be talking about 2016, the year that his Wolverines went to Ohio State in a meeting of the No. 2 and No. 3 ranked teams in the country.  An unfortunate spot kept an Ohio State overtime drive alive in a game the Buckeyes would eventually win a couple plays later.

Had Michigan won they’d have gone to the Big Ten Championship but instead the Big Ten East went to Penn State and the Nittany Lions wound up winning that over Wisconsin.

Ohio State was still gifted a College Football Playoff appearance that year despite not winning the conference and were embarrassed by Clemson, 31-0 in the Fiesta Bowl.

So is that what Harbaugh is trying to sell as being “about as close as you can possibly be” to a national title?

Forget the Ohio State game, the Wolverines also lost to an un-ranked Iowa team earlier that fall.

Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan team was close to making a Big Ten Championship game where a win would have gotten them into the CFP.  But close to a national championship?

Harbaugh is yet to beat Ohio State in his five years in Ann Arbor, hasn’t yet won his own division of the conference, let alone the Big Ten and has never finished a year with fewer than three losses with the Wolverines.

But sure, ” About as close as you can possibly be”

Keep trying to speak that into existence, Jim.  Somewhere, somebody might actually believe you.