’73 Memories …
When you win 76-0, the game kinda becomes wallpaper. That’s why it was an honor and a pleasure to visit with some members of the 1973 OSU team.
For me, the highlight of the blowout was an interview with Archie Griffin and Cornelius Greene. You can watch it here.
Braxton Back?
Urban left him out Saturday, with hopes of getting him fully healthy by NEXT Saturday against Wisconsin.
Miller was as active as he has been in practice this past week, since the MCL sprain. The coaches told us Friday that Miller had “taken full-speed drops, and moved around in the pocket” … but all reports from the coaches and athletic training staff was that Miller felt “sore” after that.
Offensive Coordinator Tom Herman: “He went 3/4 speed up until (the end of the week), when we turned him loose for a couple of series, and he did really well.”
Doug Calland, OSU Head Athletic Trainer, feels like for HIS rehab purposes, Miller is about 80-85% healthy, with the “hope” of getting to 100% by Wisconsin next week. Miller would start his multiple, 45-minute routines at around 7 AM, work around class and practice, and finish off his rehab day at around 8 PM.
Braxton was in and around the quarterbacks all day on Saturday, and kept the headset on for most of the game. “It’s hard for him,” Calland said. “He has not had a lot of injury. Being sore can bother him or frustrate him, because he is not used to being hurt.”
Kenny G:
How sweet is his music lately?
Got the third-highest votes for a captain, and as a back-up QB, and he now has his name to two records in his first two career starts.
“It’s been great,” he told me moments after the game ended. “That’s a goal you have, to go to a school like this, a university like this, to start a game or two, to have that opportunity, and God has helped me excel.”
Urban recounted his first meeting with Kenny Guiton: “When I first got here, he did some things he wasn’t supposed to do, so I kicked him off the team. He shed a few tears. Proved to me he wanted another chance. By the first month you could see it, by the second month, you could feel it. He wasn’t committed to excellence, now he is nonstop football.”
2nd & 7
I had a wonderful chance to meet with former Buckeye, Ryan Miller, who has led the charge for the 2nd & 7 Foundation.
Here’s a link to their website: http://www.
This didn’t strike me as your typical reading program. Partly because the idea came in and around three former OSU football players in Miller, Mike Vrabel, and Luke Fickell. Partly because it has lasted so long — 14 years. And partly because it has been so good that OTHER universities have implemented it, schools like North Carolina, and many of the D1 institutions in the state of Ohio.
Now, every Thursday and Friday at 10 AM, several Ohio State student-athletes, not just football players, will read to 2nd-grade students. Not only that, but those 2nd-graders get a book to keep.
2nd & 7 has grown in large part because of the dedication of its Executive Director, Amy Hoying, who is married to another former teammate of Vrabel, Fickell and Miller’s, Tommy Hoying.
The whole point, according to Miller, is to do what Woody Hayes always talked about in “paying it forward.”
And the name of the Foundation, 2nd & 7? The initial idea was to raise enough money to read to kids. They chose 2nd-graders, and at the time, raised enough to read to 7 schools.
2nd & 7.
I got a copy of one of the books, and “tapioca pudding” was in one of the stories. I am certain, I would have needed that one sounded out to me. 🙂
Quick Hitters:
Obviously due to injury, but Guiton has taken 213 snaps this year. Miller? 70.
Urban on Guiton to me on the field after the game: “He is one of the best game-managers I have ever had.”
Carlos Hyde returned after a 3-game suspension. And who was there first to give him a high-five after his TD Saturday? Jordan Hall.
Tom Herman on running back competition: “Fun to see the competition. Guys in practice are competing harder at running back than any other position I have seen.”
Herman on Urban’s demand to the receivers (as a former wide receivers coach): “For Coach, if you don’t block, you don’t play.”
Luke Fickell on DL Chris Carter losing weight: “Two years ago, he was a biscuit away from 400 pounds. He legitimately wanted to change, and now he’s like a dancing bear.”
