Jaamal Berry - Welcome to Deadwood!
A little more Urban renewal
Berry's high school coach told The Dispatch, "From the conversation he had with the coaches, it didn't appear that they were excited about him being [there]."
http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/45396/jaamal-berry-osu-likely-parting-ways
February 9th, 2012 at 12:35 PM ^
Long overdue. Seemed to have plenty of talent, but something is definitely off with him.
February 9th, 2012 at 12:36 PM ^
Hasn't he had some legal troubles though? Or am I thinking of the wrong guy?
I think Urban is slimey, but I can see booting Berry as legit.
February 9th, 2012 at 12:40 PM ^
He's had some legal problems.
February 9th, 2012 at 4:03 PM ^
Isn't Berry the guy that had the really weird on-campus assault where he basically tackled and started punching some random student in the OSU equivalent of the diag?
Maybe I'm mixing him up with another Buckeye (go figure) but I don't blame Meyer if it's the same kid - he's had multiple run-ins with the law.
February 9th, 2012 at 12:41 PM ^
I'm sorry but if Meyer HADN'T booted Berry this board would be up in arms about his running a renegade team that is basically a work-release program on grass.
Berry is bad news (allegedly) and I think Meyer should be commended for showing him the door....not criticized.
February 9th, 2012 at 12:46 PM ^
Meyer doesn't deserve to be commended quite yet. The only reason he's not giving Berry more of a chance, is because he doesn't need him right now. There were dozens of these cases at Florida and Utah, and he kept the player, if that player were at a dire need position. He's also in a spot right now, where he knows the compliance department at OSU is going to be stricter than the Nuns at my Catholic high school. OSU's margin for error in questionable player conduct is razor thin.
February 9th, 2012 at 12:53 PM ^
Not to mention the fact that he needs room for Diggs.
February 9th, 2012 at 1:01 PM ^
Word around the SEC, is that it's Florida for Diggs. The top two are Florida and Maryland, but Florida is the clear favorite.
February 9th, 2012 at 1:31 PM ^
That's great to hear. Hope he becomes a Terp.
February 9th, 2012 at 4:11 PM ^
Analysts at Rivals and 247 have been saying that they feel that it is going to be Maryland.
February 9th, 2012 at 12:53 PM ^
The last point you raise is what an OSU-fan friend of mine has said repeatedly. Meyer apparently came in and told everyone that there would be no room at all for slip ups. He is very aware of a potential NCAA hammer coming down. This was hard to take for some on the team, b/c Tressel was (for good and for bad) very slow to kick anyone off.
February 9th, 2012 at 1:59 PM ^
it missed
February 9th, 2012 at 2:26 PM ^
But the probation violation hammer is still in the tool belt and I don't think Emmert can pull Gee and Co. clear of that one if it falls.
February 9th, 2012 at 12:54 PM ^
If he boots Berry he does. If you were around here during his hiring at OSU you'd have learned the following about Meyer:
1. He's degenerate liar that only gets recruits cause he LIES. He might be the biggest liar of any lying liar anyone on the board has ever seen or heard from.
2. He's a cheat who will do anything to take players. The ONLY reason a handful of recruits decided on OSU over Michigan was because of either money or mulitple coeds found in their room during their official visits.
3. Did i mention he lies a lot? Wow does he ever.
I understand that you've followed him more closely recently during his stint in Florida via your affiliation with Alabama but the dude can flat out coach and is one hell of a recruiter. He might be total pond scum as a person (Florida coed...cough...cough...health issues...cough...more time with family) but the levels which we go to castigate the guy are unreal. And in this case he booted somebody from the team that DESERVED TO BE BOOTED.
February 9th, 2012 at 1:05 PM ^
The guy has my scumbag meter needled. I trust my intuition over carefully laid out facts. You can manipulate facts (but OSU nevvver does that) but you cannot trick someone's gut. I've very rarely been wrong about someone after watching their actions for more than a few minutes. There is a very, very small chance that this guy is anything but a dirtball. I felt that way prior to his OSU hire, its not because I want a reason to hate him. Call it unprompted haterism, but it won't change my opinion.
In this case the benefit of his football team aligned itself with the 'right' decision. This is a situation that does not prove his meddle one way of the other.
February 9th, 2012 at 1:23 PM ^
I sure hope you work in law enforcement. A talent like you possess "I've very rarely been wrong about someone after watching their actions for more than a few minutes." coupled with "I trust my intuition over carefully laid out facts" would do wonders for reducing street crime i would think.
February 9th, 2012 at 1:50 PM ^
Not a cop, although the court of public law and the court of public opinion are two completely seperate things. I wouldn't imprison someone that I thought could be an axe murderer, but I sure as hell wouldn't let them watch my kid. Don't you think perception and intuition plays a key part in day to day interactions? Have you ever disliked anyone for no reason in particular, just a vibe they give off? Take the high road on that last question...
February 9th, 2012 at 1:06 PM ^
We have a saying in the south, and it pretty much holds true for all situations. That saying goes "You put a fox in the hen house, and you'll have chicken for dinner every night". That is to say, that Urban hasn't changed a bit, and the things you're saying, the south has knows for quite some time. Now realize, that I never said that the guy couldn't coach, I've always given him his due.
Also, the levels in which you guys castigate him, is no where near the level of HATRED people in the south have for him. Football is religion in the south, people are unreasonable, and they have no rational sense when it comes to football.
February 9th, 2012 at 1:15 PM ^
He seems weasely to me, but I only have a two concrete stories of him doing anything wrong: 1. Telling Jevan Snead that he wasn't recruiting Tim Tebow as a QB, and 2. Telling Darryl Stonum that Lloyd Carr's staff had told them (the Fla. coaches) that they (Carr's staff) didn't think Stonum would fit in Rodriguez's offense.
February 9th, 2012 at 1:45 PM ^
I'll be more than happy to go back and get that info, I just can't really do it at work. Saturday will be a good day for me to do it,
February 9th, 2012 at 1:52 PM ^
I don't think Meyer is not a cheat, but I also don't have any good reasons to think he is one.
February 9th, 2012 at 1:52 PM ^
I would like nothing more than a well laid-out argument on why not to like our biggest rivals' coach. Give us all you've got.
February 9th, 2012 at 2:06 PM ^
No you wouldn't. Just above you said, " I trust my intuition over carefully laid out facts"
February 9th, 2012 at 2:08 PM ^
Ha! A good point. However what I truly enjoy are carefully laid out facts which coincide with my opinion. That's the coup de grace...
February 9th, 2012 at 3:14 PM ^
Get yourself up to 100 points so you can make your own original post. Upvoted.
February 9th, 2012 at 1:17 PM ^
lol who is this guy? The first time I heard a Tennesseean say the fox-in-the-hen-house phrase was my first year of law school in Contracts I. It didn't make sense then.
February 9th, 2012 at 1:21 PM ^
We've become very Penn State-ish in our quickness to accuse Meyer of cheating. I've read of at least two occasions when he seems to have pretty obviously lied to recruits, but that only makes him sort of dirty. I reminds me of this exchange from the Royal Tenebaums:
Henry Sherman: I don't think you're an asshole, Royal. I just think you're kind of a son of a bitch.
Royal: Well, I really appreciate that.
February 9th, 2012 at 1:12 PM ^
I would amend this to say that the compliance department is going to be as strict as the NCAA in a case regarding one of their marquee cash cows. Meyer is telling his players they need to be on their best behavior... until he can sniff out all the new watchdogs and find a way around them. Those morans still think they did nothing wrong.
Substitute Gee and Smith (AKA George McFly and Richard Pryor):
February 9th, 2012 at 1:37 PM ^
An Alabama fan criticizing another school for kicking off a player who's been charged with possession and assault. That's rich.
February 9th, 2012 at 7:26 PM ^
Tho,this was standard operating procedures within CERTAIN programs in the S.E.C. um finds himself not landing on a clean mattress. The dirty soiled brown spot is decades of cheating. Safe to say razor thin is how this program has operates. Football(rec league~the league)played in the south has its own meaning.
February 9th, 2012 at 1:44 PM ^
But let's face it, this board wouldn't commend Urban Meyer if he ran into a burning building to save stranded children, much less kick a renegade player off the team.
February 9th, 2012 at 2:03 PM ^
That's not totally fair.
There were rumors Urban Meyer started the fire. Supposedly the "83rd" scholarship player also lived there.
February 9th, 2012 at 12:46 PM ^
Not that kicking a kid out for these types of run-ins with the law isn't justified (although Meyer didn't seem to do it at Florida). The end of the article about Meyer making room to get to one under the limit is pretty telling.
Edit: Also, this is what I call a bust. The thread about BWC glosses over the fact that he is giving 4 hard years to the program and will probably leave with a degree. He didn't make his own rating.
February 9th, 2012 at 12:45 PM ^
Another scholarship opening for somebody else.that's all this is about.
February 9th, 2012 at 12:50 PM ^
Maybe room for Diggs when he announces tonight. Say it ain't so...
February 9th, 2012 at 12:46 PM ^
that he can become morally upright now that he has recruit numbers to rectify
February 9th, 2012 at 12:48 PM ^
Wasn't this supposed to happen before Meyer even got there? I'd love to criticize Urban Meyer for being a sleaze, but I'm going to wait until he's done something sleazy to do it.
February 9th, 2012 at 1:14 PM ^
Wait until he does something sleazy??? You mean to say, wait until he does something sleazy while at OSU... right?
February 9th, 2012 at 2:05 PM ^
Yes. I didn't mean to imply that he hadn't done anything sleazy yet. Sleazy people are capable of reasonable acts, though. I'll call him on his shit as the moment arises (which it undoubtedly will). In the meantime, this needed to happen.
February 9th, 2012 at 12:57 PM ^
It definitely seems like this kid had it coming, the coincidence of spots opening up just makes it easy to judge. Despite our TREMENDOUS class this year, there is a a natural tendency to passive aggressively hate on any incident that falls favorably for Ohio
February 9th, 2012 at 1:03 PM ^
You never exactly heard about him kicking players of the team in Florida.it took another coaching staff to give Janoris Jenkins the boot.
February 9th, 2012 at 1:03 PM ^
Regardless of whether Berry deserved it or not, cutting him should have happened before National Signing Day to remove the impression of oversigning-based cutting.
That should be the rule; cuts before anyone signs.
February 9th, 2012 at 1:16 PM ^
Everyone in the know knew Berry was gone weeks ago. For whatever reason they decided not to go public with this and I'm willing to bet at least 2-3 other cases of kids who are gone. I don't know if it's to let the kids find new schools to transfer to first, or to let them finish the semester out, whatever. It makes it look like they have an oversigning problem.
February 9th, 2012 at 1:26 PM ^
It's not a question of whether or not Berry deserves to be kicked off the team, it's a question of whether Meyer would change that decision if Berry were good at football. Based on past actions, Berry would not be gone if he could play.
It really did turn out convenient that lots of these "troublemakers" at OSU were also not so good at football. Oh well.
February 9th, 2012 at 2:00 PM ^
Have to respectfully disagree with you here. Berry was a 5 star recruit at running back, and as an Ohio State fan I can tell you that when Urban was hired we were all giddy about the possibility of seeing Berry's unreal Florida God-given speed and athleticism in Meyer's spread offense. He never got on the field because of off-the field issues and legal problems. And he was gone before signing day. If you checked 11W and other OSU-blogs this was known in January. Unsure why it just now this has become "public" but it is what it is.
As someone pointed out earlier, Meyer could cure cancer and you guys would come up with some conspiracy theory for it. It's OK to commend a rival coach once in a while. We give Hoke props now and then when it is due. This rivalry is built on respect, not hatred. Seems like you guys have forgotten this.
February 9th, 2012 at 2:21 PM ^
"It's OK to commend a rival coach once in a while. We give Hoke props now and then when it is due. This rivalry is built on respect, not hatred. Seems like you guys have forgotten this."
Is this like self deprecating sarcasm or something? If not, the irony is rich.
I agree (or would like to at least)... And I hear stuff like this from Michigan fans all of the time. But it may be the first reasonable thing I've ever seen online from a Buckeye on the matter.
February 9th, 2012 at 2:46 PM ^
Not self-deprecating sarcasm. Just my observation after having visited this board off-and-on for the last couple months since the Urban hiring at tOSU. Seems like most of the posters here hate Urban Meyer and he hasn't even coached his first Spring game yet. I can't speak for all Buckeye fans, obviously, but most of the fans I know, including myself, do not hate Hoke. We may make jokes about him or tease UM fans about his folksy quirks, but we don't spew any venom or call the guy a sleazeball.
I am old enough to remember the Bo-Woody days, and as much as we didn't like each other, we sure as heck respected each other.
February 9th, 2012 at 3:36 PM ^
True this, w/r/t Bo and Woody. Unfortunately, that was the last time I had respect for your program. Over 30 years ago. And I don't feel good saying that - just sad.
February 9th, 2012 at 2:30 PM ^
All very good points that are well taken, but... we all know that Urban Meyer would NEVER cure cancer as it would make it more difficult for him to grayshirt out undesirables from the roster /rabblerabble. ;)
Seriously, though, I agree that Jamaal Berry was just someone who had to go irregardless of OSU's recruiting situation and it's a big stretch to link it to Meyer's "oversigning" Lane fkn Kiffin would've kicked Berry off the team. (On the flip side, you could probably whack a sack of buckeye nuts on your browser keyboard and probably find an OSU message board frothing with equally scurrilous talk about how Brady Hoke was 'negatively recruiting' OSU vis-a-vis Kalis).
February 9th, 2012 at 2:45 PM ^
"This rivalry is built on respect, not hatred. Seems like you guys have forgotten this."
If some Michigan fans are not giving OSU or their coach "respect" I would argue that it is precisely because we have NOT forgotten.
Not forgotten what OSU did for the better part of your last coach's tenure.
Not forgotten what your current coach did for the entirety of his last stop.
I actually had quite a bit of respect for LF and how he handled himself through the mess he was handed.
And for my part, I don't hate OSU or Meyer, I have more of a dislike tending toward indifference. They are part of what is ruining college athletics.. not sure how else I am suposed to feel.