Wolvie3758

January 5th, 2016 at 5:01 PM ^

Remember.....They are not there to get a education....The players have told us that directly..and Urban Meyer is the Exact perfect coach to be at  a school like that..He must hold the record for total number of players in trouble with the Law....Thats OSU for you...

Joined: 12/12/2010

MGoPoints: 6338

UMProud

January 5th, 2016 at 5:12 PM ^

Not trying to be conspiratorial here but do these players know something we don't?  Urban had a weird speech after their bowl game.  Wondering if his chest is starting to act up.

Joined: 12/18/2014

MGoPoints: 2705

Scarlatina

January 5th, 2016 at 5:26 PM ^

Urban Meyer has a motto that he gives to every season at during the offseason. For 2014, Urban texted the whole team, "The Chase is on," which the team liked and it stuck. After winning the NC, Urban called the upcoming 2015 season "The Grind." So in the post-game presser after the Fiesta Bowl, Urban commented how the season truly was a grind and that every coach and player on the team was tired.

Joined: 12/22/2011

MGoPoints: 2379

SpinachAssassin

January 5th, 2016 at 5:40 PM ^

Talented players should go get the money.

OSU has a different philosophy than UM. It's more of a football factory than educational institution. UM, though still tier 1 football, has a bit more focus on the education setting one up for life.

Urb probably encourages them to go since it's his version of a virtuous cycle he can sell to recruits (come here, leave and get paid).

Joined: 05/23/2013

MGoPoints: 4869

marti221

January 5th, 2016 at 5:25 PM ^

Next year is SO huge for UM. We should take on a couple relatively weak MSU/OSU squads. We will be loaded with upperclassman with the only real question mark being LB (I'm assuming we will get some more-than-competent QB play). In 2017 we will be in the same position as MSU/OSU next year. I really don't see much of a chance at a playoff birth in 17, so 16 will be very big.



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Joined: 04/21/2010

MGoPoints: 4791

osufancomesinpeace

January 5th, 2016 at 5:36 PM ^

OSU fan here, who like my username says, comes in peace.

I can try and add some color to this mass exodus. It's certainly nothing to do with Urban or not liking the program, all these kids love OSU and love Urban.

What I believe it comes down to is this. Last year, they won a national championship, which is obviously the ultimate goal, but also takes a lot out of you, both physically and emotionally. The following year, they comeback with insanely high expectations where nothing is ever good enough. Even when undefeated, they still received a mountain of criticism with every game. I can imagine it was very taxing to them at multiple levels.

To put it simply: I just think they are burnt out. There is no way they could do another year of being apart of the blinding spotlight of where this program is at right now. The pressure, the standards, criticism, schoolwork, etc... Even if these guys become stars in the NFL, you can argue that they might not ever be under a greater microscope than they were this season. Unfortunately, I also don't think this year was fun for them, which is sucks, but was a byproduct of all the hype. 

So yeah, they just have nothing left give as a product of natural attrition. Frankly, I'm more than okay with it. This group of players have left such an amazing legacy to the program.

TL;DR: Man, these kids are tired.

 

Joined: 02/04/2015

MGoPoints: 469

osufancomesinpeace

January 5th, 2016 at 6:05 PM ^

For 2016, I feel good about...

  • QB: This is obvious. JT Barrett is returning and is by all indications, the best QB in the B1G next year
  • RB: I think Curtis Samuel has a breakout year now that he's the man. Also, all reports indicate Mike Weber was going to see serious playing time this year before an injury redshirted him in the fall
  • OLine: We have Pat Elfein returning who is a likely first team all-american and we also have Billy Price coming back as a third year starter. Those are strong anchors to a line that saw some nice progress with our younger guys
  • Defensive Ends: Tyquan Lewis, Sam Hubbard, and Jalyn Holmes showed a massive amount of potential this year, especially when we had to slide Bosa inside. Those guys will all be very good
  • Linebackers: Raekwon McMillan is back, which is creates an amazing anchor to our D. He could easily be an All-American next year. On the outside, we have tons of young talent that came in highly recruited: Jerome Baker, Justin Hillard, Dante Booker, Chris Worley. Some of them did really well in their playing time this year
  • Corners: Gareon Conley returns after a great a season and Damon Webb, who showed a ton this year, will likely start opposite of him
  • Special Teams: They'll be fine. Cam Johnston is a senior and he's an awesome punter. Our kicking game is meh, but we don't kick a lot of FGs to begin with

Areas I don't quite feel as good about...

  • WR: Losing Jalin Marshall hurt, because he really could have used another year. We get Noah Brown back from injury who is poised to have a breakout year. Beyond that, we have a ton of unknowns. Parris Campbell, Terry McLaurin, and Johnnie Dixon have all shown some flashes, but nothing substantial. The biggest X-Factor is Torrence Gibson, who has the potential to be special. 
  • TE: Marcus Baugh returns after seeing a lot of playing time last season, but he is still raw. After that, our depth is very thin. We have a lot of freshman coming in who could steal playing time early
  • Interior DLine: We lose Adolphus Washington and some older depth. While younger guys got time this year, nobody quite defined themselves as a clear cut starter for next year. Some guys were solid, but nobody really stood out
  • Safeties: Vonn Bell and Tyvis Powell are gone and we're left with a lot of younger, unproven guys. If I had to pick an area I'm most worried about, its this

In terms of freshman I can genuinely see contributing next year: Austin Mack (WR), Nick Bosa (DE), Jonathan Cooper (DE/LB), Jake Haussman (TE), and Demario McCallk (All Purpose)

Joined: 02/04/2015

MGoPoints: 469

Squeezebox

January 5th, 2016 at 7:30 PM ^

Nice to have intelligent and friendly exchanges from other team's fans.    Good information.

Do you thnk that the burn out just comes with the territory and that all winning programs go through the same process?  Or is Ohio State more of a pressure cooker, due to all the insanely high expectations.

Other teams, especially Alabama, don't seem to go through as big of a let down.  At least, it doesn't show as much on the outside.  Both teams did finish with the same record and had the same high expectations, I'll add.

 

Joined: 04/25/2014

MGoPoints: 1566

osufancomesinpeace

January 5th, 2016 at 8:56 PM ^

I think too a degree, yes, it probably comes with the territory. Personally, I don't know if OSU is more of a pressure cooker than other major programs. I just know what it was this year, and I felt for these kids.

But I do think this year was unique. Not only were we the returning national champions, but the talent we were returning was insane. I don't think many defending national champions in recent history have returned the level of talent we did this year. It shows, just look at any draft board. We could very well break the first round record.

So yeah, probably a bit of mix between the natural high expectations of an elite program mixed with individual circumstance.

 

Joined: 02/04/2015

MGoPoints: 469

BayAreaBuckeye

January 5th, 2016 at 5:43 PM ^

Been following site for years now and finally decided to sign up (friends close, enemies closer).  Between 11W and this site, nothing else is more impressive when it comes online team blogs.  I come in peace.

Most of these players have already graduated or will by the end of spring, won a national championship ring, and probably would not drastically improve their draft stock (minus Eli Apple imo who would probaby move up a to possible 1st rounder if great 2016).  The sky is not falling in Columbus, nothing is going on "behind the scenes", these early departures were all expected.  Lots of talent remain, even though most of the new contributors will be green, they won't be fresh out of HS.  90% of the 2015 class  redshirted bc of the ridiculous amount of talent in front of them.  Expected to hear from a great group of RS Freshman or true sophmores that played special teams only (ala 2014). 

I agree UM will be best team in conference in September, but by November things will hopefully be different. 

Joined: 01/05/2016

MGoPoints: 9

cezical

January 5th, 2016 at 6:23 PM ^

no respect... its just that msu only started playing football 5 years ago because they actually have a decent coach for the first time and they have no idea what football is because they were tricked by dantonio because they were recruited to play basketball because nobody wants to play football for the little brother.

Joined: 12/19/2015

MGoPoints: -127

BlueinOK

January 5th, 2016 at 7:04 PM ^

Just shows how loaded OSU was. With how they recruit, they should be fine. Obviously there will be some drop off, but not as much as some hope. 

Joined: 12/06/2009

MGoPoints: 15029

nick614

January 5th, 2016 at 7:51 PM ^

This group is Meyer's first recruiting class that was all his players. When you look back at it, it was a very good class.

Vonn Bell 
Jalin Marshall
Joey Bosa
Eli Apple
Gareon Conley
Ezekiel Elliot
Dontre Wilson
Tyquan Lewis
JT Barrett
Billy Price
Marcus Baugh
Corey Smith
Tracy Sprinkle
Darron Lee
Chris Worley
Donovan Munger
Mike Hill
James Clark
Evan Lisle
Cam Burrows
Mike Mitchell (transferred)
Jayme Thompson (transferred)
Trey Johnson (medical hardship)

Joined: 11/25/2012

MGoPoints: 71

bronxblue

January 5th, 2016 at 7:25 PM ^

They'll be competitve, but if we start hearing about Meyer being worn out and maybe stepping aside if they 2 or 3 games, I wouldn't be surprised.

Joined: 11/22/2008

MGoPoints: 171775