Dotting The 'Eyes

A criminal edge?

When Urban Meyer arrived at Ohio State last November, the new boss laid out what he called his core values. "Honesty, respect, No. 1,” Meyer said. “Treat everyone with respect. No. 2, no  drugs, no stealing, no weapons." But at least one observer suggests he is going about it all wrong.

Notre Dame radio analyst Allen Pinkett was not amused when Irish coach Brian Kelly said Tuesday his team needed "more accountable citizens." Kelly recently suspended starting running back Cierre Wood and backup defensive end Justin Utopo two games each for violating team rules.

"I've always felt like to have a successful team you've got to have a few bad citizens on the team," Pinkett said today on WSCR 670 in Chicago. "That's how Ohio State used to win all the time. They would have two or three guys that were criminals and that just adds to the chemistry of the team. I think Notre Dame is growing because maybe they have some guys that are doing something worthy of a suspension which creates edge on the football team.

"You can't have a football team full of choirboys. You get your butt kicked if you've got a team full of choirboys so you've got to have a little bit of edge. But the coach has to be the dictator and the ultimate ruler. Here's my opinion: You don't hand out suspensions unless you know you've got somebody behind that guy that can make plays."

To be fair, the former Irish All-American said not all felons would contribute to team chemistry. "I don't want any mass murderers or rapists," Pinkett said.

You have to respect the honesty, but wow. Keep an eye on the "help wanted" ads.

WILLIAMS READY: Defensive end Nathan Williams went through his second straight practice today and appears set to play a limited role Saturday in the Buckeyes' season opener against Miami (Ohio). Williams, who has 11 career sacks, underwent microfracture surgery last fall.

"I’d like to get him on the field," Meyer said tonight.

A new tradition at OSU

Urban Meyer grew emotional during the spring game when the Ohio State Marching Band belted “Hang on Sloopy,” the school’s unofficial rock anthem. So don't expect the Ashtabula native and former OSU graduate assistant to do away with any cornerstone traditions. But Meyer hopes to add new ones, including a plan he announced today to involve students in a brief but high-energy round of ... pregame calisthetics.

“With 23 minutes to go before opening kickoff, our players along with our strength coach Mickey Marotti will address and come over in front of the student body,” Meyer said in a video message emailed to students. "We’re going to do the 'Quick Cals,' which is what our players do before they get ready to play a game. We ask you to join.”

Check it out.

 

Political football

Here in America’s true battleground, where topics to be avoided at formal gatherings include politics, religion and Ohio State and Michigan football, I suspect a presidential election will eventually be decided by our area's pigskin sensibilities.

Recall in 2004 when Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry memorably stayed true — sort of — to his pandering scarlet-colored spiel in … Michigan. After telling a crowd in Bowling Green how much he enjoyed OSU football, a drained Kerry hewed to the same message later that night at an event in Taylor, Mich.

“I just go for Buckeye football,” he said. “That’s where I'm coming from.”

The crowd booed, triggering in Kerry the realization he just might have said the one thing that could have lost him the tradtionally blue state in the '04 election. Kerry awkwardly reversed field and carried Michigan, though of course he lost Ohio and the election to George W. Bush. 

Eight years later, this different sort of political football continues. President Obama is leaving nothing to chance in Ohio as he seeks re-election. Beyond making this battleground state a veritable second home, he knows to exploit the Buckeyes' grip on Ohio. Obama recently appeared on a Columbus sports drive-time radio show -- "What do you guys think of coach Meyer?" he asked the hosts -- and put the "I" in "O-H-I-O" during a visit to OSU this week.

Will Obama stay consistent with this message in Michigan? Will he spell out "0-H-I-O" with his staff at a rally in Ann Arbor? Voters will forgive a politician for flip-flopping on economic policy, social issues and pretty much everything else. But foreign policy when it comes to Ohio State and Michigan? No chance.  

(Photo from Twitter via @MicahKamrass)

 

 It's your move, Mr. Romney.  

Here, there, everywhere a quarterback

I’m in the camp that counts the two-quarterback system as the no-quarterback system. But what about the team that plays two quarterbacks … at the same time?

Urban Meyer said Sunday he is toying with a package that includes starting quarterback Braxton Miller and his junior backup, Kenny Guiton. (Now we know why Ohio State is building that 68-foot bulwark around its castle and shielding the media from preseason practices.)

“I wouldn’t mind coming up with a little package where they’re both on the field at the same time,” Meyer said. “Braxton doesn’t know it yet and neither does Kenny, but I have it on a piece of paper. We’ll have that chat probably pretty soon. I just want to see if they keep developing. If they’re in our best 11, then it’s our job to find a way to get them on the field.”

Meyer was not polite enough to diagram the play(s) for the media assembled in the Buckeyes’ meeting room. But expect something to be in the works. Meyer has flouted convention before, from his place on the vanguard of the spread revolution to utilizing two quarterbacks — Chris Leak and Tim Tebow — on Florida’s national championship team in 2006.

Meyer likes Guiton's size (6-3), speed (former track star) and development as a passer. So much, in fact, that he is prepared to comfortably set Miller free to run the offense as designed. With two quarterbacks suited to the spread -- and a defense that figures to hold its own -- the boss sees no need to handle his starter with kid gloves.   

“I like Kenny Guiton, so we’re going to be more … I don’t want to say reckless, but we’re going to be more aggressive because I have trust in two quarterbacks,” Meyer said.

Stay tuned.

The one that got away

As Ohio State held its first full team practice Monday, one of the leading themes was coach Urban Meyer's continued search for a game-changing receiver. Devin Smith is one possibility. "My gosh," Meyer said of the sophomore burner, "do we need a guy like that to do something." Also in the running: Evan Spencer, Corey Brown and freshman Michael Thomas.

But suffice to say Meyer will not truly find his white whale -- or, more specifically, his LeBron. The first-year OSU coach's search for a playmaker on the outside calls to mind the one that got away.

As a receivers coach at Notre Dame in 2000, Meyer offered a scholarship to a sophomore wideout named LeBron from Akron. He knew the player as a star wideout for St. Vincent St. Mary, not the guy who dabbled on the hardwood during the winter.

"Thank you very much," LeBron said. "I'll consider it.'"

The player's coach laughed.

"What are you laughing at?" Meyer recalled replying.

"Do you know who that is?" the coach said.

"No."

"That's LeBron James."

"Who's LeBron James?"

"He'll be the next Michael Jordan."

"Come on."

Asked how good the 6-foot-8 James would have been on Saturdays and ultimately Sundays, Meyer said, "first-round draft pick, Hall of Famer ... "

Meyer, it turns out, still has a soft spot for the Heat superstar, now a pariah in much of his home state because of the self-serving and perhaps plotted way he left Cleveland in 2010. (Recall the Michigan-level jeers James received at the OSU-Duke basketball game in Columbus last season).

"He's a good person. ... You never hear about anything off the field with him," Meyer said recently. "I guess it's just the way it all transitioned, the show or something. I respect him as an athlete. He's a winner."

Meyer's approval rating in Ohio is conservatively triple the percent of Americans who like cute puppies. (A Blade survey puts the figure at 167 percent, plus or minus 4 percentage points.) He has struck all the right notes. There is nothing wrong with pulling for James. But in this election season, there are two polarizing topics best avoided in Ohio: politics and LeBron. Hey, nobody's perfect.