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Ohio State vs. #2 Auburn (in Atlanta), Dec. 14 @ 1pm ET, ESPN2

Obviously it's too early to start talking like that, but I'd say the reason why is it's important to give Diebler a chance to show what he can do with his own team. You could argue he helped build this team, but he definitely needs to have a chance to build from the ground up with some years to see how he is able to do things perhaps differently than Holtmann. And as you mentioned, they have financial reasons why they should not be thinking along those lines.
Exactly. Experience isnt always great and it takes a while to unlearn bad habits.
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2025 BP Class Review

I don't follow recruiting like I used to, so I don't have many opinions on individual signees. And opinions on signees matter much less these days, since half of this class will probably disappear into the transfer portal (and others will magically appear in Columbus and we will all pretend that they were always Buckeyes for life). For my general opinions about the state of recruiting I would simply reiterate my thoughts from last year, which can be found in their entirety HERE if you are interested.

Specifically, I proposed a five-prong recruiting approach:

1. Five-star recruits who will take less bag for more development;
2. Three-star recruits who have huge upside that can be developed over four or five years;
3. Four-star recruits who bleed scarlet and grey and will remain loyal to the program;
4. Transfer portal players who have already proven their worth elsewhere; and
5. Selling NFL over NIL.

Ohio State has had massive success in the transfer portal and that success will likely continue this year. Look for the Buckeyes to target several OL in the portal – it is much easier to sign college "free agents" than it is to identify, develop, and retain high school "draft picks", especially offensive linemen who often take years to physically mature and hone their talents. I am in no way concerned that Ohio State signed just three OL in the Class of 2025, only one of whom is a supposed "stud" (Carter Lowe); I might be concerned after the portal closes. Let's wait and see....

Needless to say, Ohio State also needs to find a proven place kicker in the transfer portal. This would be my top priority.

As usual, the class of 2025 has several high-level prospects, with seven of the signees being in the top-100 (per 247 Sports), including two in the top-5 (QB Tavien St. Clair and CB Devin Sanchez). The Buckeyes did a better job this year of avoiding "bag chasers" but still got burned by a few top prospects.

I also note that 14 of Ohio State's signees (over half the class) are "unranked" nationally (meaning not in the top 247 overall prospects), which suggests that the Buckeye staff is indeed trying to identify more "sleepers" (low floor, high ceiling, #2 above). The chances are good that at least a couple of these unheralded prospects will develop into NFL talents in four or five years; of the rest, some will provide valuable depth, some will hit the portal and be replaced by better players.

Ohio State signed only five prospects in the middle tier (#3 above), and one of those (ATH Bodpegn Miller) began the year as a super-sleeper prospect (as the best athlete on his high school team he naturally played quarterback, but he projects as a wide receiver or perhaps a "flex" tight end in college).

The most intriguing prospect in this class is edge rusher Zion Grady – not only is he the first Buckeye signee from the State of Alabama in over 40 years (along with fellow Class of 2025 member RB Anthony Rogers), he also fits the role of speed rusher that the Buckeyes have been lacking for some time. And despite his lofty recruiting ranking (#71 overall in 247 Composite, #5 Edge) he is still considered to be a high-ceiling prospect.

If I had to give this class a grade, I'd say A-minus. But with every recruiting class the real grade is INC, and this is especially true in the NIL/portal era.
Thanks @LordJeffBuck . Just wouldn't be a class review without your input. I like your most intriguing prospect pick with Grady, I couldn't believe we held onto him for starters. But his potential as you said is off the charts. He will likely need a year of development in S&C and just on tweaks for technique, but I get excited about him playing potentially across from Eddrick and others in the future...but wouldn't be shocked to see him get PT because of his talent just like Eddrick.
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Former DC Kerry Coombs (Former Cincy Bearcats Interim Head Coach)

Yeah they are! Its a shame what's happened to the program in the last 10+yrs
The entire district is a mess. How Stoinhoff didn’t go hard after Tyler Williams will never sit right with me.
Not sure if the district or the program will ever recover. People outside of Cincinnati only think Colerain was a successful program because of Coombs. Truth is it has been a competitive and relevant program dating back to Cosica and before him in the mid 70’s.
But don’t get my started on the Colussi years. Those were my years playing. lol
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High School Columbus Bishop Watterson Eagles

We watched on some streaming service. It was awesome. 14-7 quickly became 14-14. Then London fumbled a bunch of times and watterson took full advantage. I think it was 21 in the last 60 seconds of the half. They got a bunch of backups in the second half.

Toledo CC won 7-6 in a down-to-the-wire game. Gonna be a rematch of last year’s championship game.

The state championship was on Friday afternoon. It was awesome - mostly because BW won. But it was a close game, too. TCC scored first and had a 7-0 halftime lead. BW wasn't able to do anything offensively in the first half, but put it together in the second half. They scored in the third quarter to tie it 7-7, but TCC returned the kickoff for a touchdown. So, they had to do it, again. On 4th-and-1, they faked a dive and threw to a wide open receiver. Touchdown. But the extra point was blocked. So, still down by 1. They got the ball back on their own 20 with about 7:30 to go in the game. They were running well, but it was 3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust stuff. 1:15 to 1:30 per 10 yards. I was really nervous. But they scored with about 1:30 remaining. They went for 2 and didn't get it. But they held TCC around the 50. Final score was 19-14.
We're super excited for my nephew and his team. He should remember this forever.
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championship week

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2025 TX CB Dorian Brew (Oregon Signee)

I hope OSU isn’t that stupid. It’s as easy saying “well what are the other teams offering?”and then when you find out you either say no thank you or you match.

I really hope it wasn’t “well Oregon is offering 250k per year”and then OSU goes “ok we’ll do 25k but we’ll make sure he gets a free car lease!”.

Like if you can’t do it then do offer anything.

At any rate we didn’t blow anything. Kids took the money and we didn’t match it. Provided we actually are aggressive in the portal for OL and DL this is a good trade off. If we don’t do anything in the portal though then i assume we just have no more money lol
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Chicago Bulls (6x NBA Champions)

Sources: Bulls' Lonzo Ball picks up $21.4M option for 2024-25​

After missing the past two-plus seasons with a knee injury, Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball has exercised the $21.4 million option on his contract for the 2024-25 season, sources told ESPN on Saturday.

Ball has undergone three surgeries on his left knee, the most recent a cartilage transplant in 2023. There remains some guarded hope that he could return next season, but there are no assurances that the damaged knee will allow for him to play again.
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His inactivity has caused his contract to become a blight on the Bulls' salary cap.

Just sayin': That sure was "no brainer" for Ball...... :nod:

Lonzo Ball wonders if his father's Big Baller Brand shoes caused his career-threatening knee injuries

Ball wore the shoes, which were the creation of his father, LaVar Ball, during his rookie season​

lonzo-ball-getty-1.png


Ball has thoughts on that, and his father, LaVar Ball, who constructed one of the all-time hype machines around his three sons, isn't going to like where Lonzo's finger is pointing. What did Spike Lee say to the great Michael Jordan? It's gotta be the shoes!

images


From ESPN:

Did Lonzo actually want to wear Big Baller Brand shoes?

"I was an Adidas kid since high school, so I was thinking that was going to be the route," Ball said. "But what was told to me, I guess, wasn't what really happened. I was told that nobody wanted to partner with me, so my dad was like, 'Just rock the brand.' And I was like,

'All right.'"

The problem, Ball said, was that the first shoes his dad had made for him to wear at NBA summer league in 2017 were unwearable.

"They were like kickball shoes," Ball said. He wore them just twice that summer. He and his manager, Darren Moore, went out to Foot Locker stores in Las Vegas to buy a different pair of high-end shoes for each game. Ball played one game each in the Air Jordan XXXI, Nike Kobe A.D., Adidas Harden LS and Under Armour Curry 4 en route to winning summer league MVP.

Eventually, Big Baller Brand set up an arrangement with Skechers to manufacture its shoes, which Ball wore for his entire rookie season. But Ball said he wasn't happy with those shoes either and believes they could have contributed to the first meniscus injury he suffered as a rookie in January 2018.

"I think it's a possibility for sure, to be honest with you," Ball said. "I wasn't really getting hurt like that until I started wearing them."


Obviously nobody could ever say whether these shoes, which were selling for an outrageous $495 despite being a clearly inferior product, had any part in Ball's injury troubles.

But if Lonzo isn't ruling it out, I guess nobody should.
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