Once again. we answered a ton of questions from Bucknuts subscribers on Ohio State football and men's basketball.
Steve Helwagen
Bucknuts.com's Steve Helwagen hosted his weekly Chat on Monday night. Check out the transcript below.
Programming Note: Steve will again participate in Ohio State Buckeyes Live at 11 a.m. Wednesday. Check out The Front Row message board after 11 a.m. for access details.
BuckeyeSalsero: Do you think it'll be after June 1 when Ohio State hoops adds the final player to next season's roster? And, is it any clearer now who that player might be?
Helwagen: It's hard to say. I think they are going slow because they don't want to make a mistake. I think there was some uncertainty whether they player who just visited on Friday from Israel, Roee Oselka, could help them right away. As was pointed out in that thread on the message board, his highlight tape was great. But the whole game clips showed he was not that big of a difference maker. Now I think he was playing against older professionals for some or all of those games, so who knows?
But they want to get it right and make sure whoever they add is a cultural fit as well as a good player who can impact things right away. You don't want to make a four-year mistake (and I'm not saying Oselka would have been or not ... only time can tell on that).
I have nobody hot on the horizon who they are close to adding. The coaches were out watching high school players this weekend. It seemed like each coach got to see most or all of their top targets. Now they can compare notes and figure out exactly who their must have players in the 2025 and 2026 classes would be.
I think they will add somebody when they think the time is right.
BuckeyeSalsero: Who will be the next big (5 star or high 4 star) football verbal commit?
Helwagen: You know, that's a good question. The RB Isaiah West de-committed from Kentucky and that could be a precursor to him switching to Ohio State. He is a four star, right around No. 200 nationally.
They are in on some great national top 50 players like WR Jamie Ffrench, OL David Sanders, CB Faheem Delane and CB Dorian Brew. But I'm not sure if any of them are committing imminently.
DE Justin Hill from Cincinnati will announce July 1 so maybe he could be that guy. But I expect they would have some camp or visit commits between now and then. And I apologize if I've missed somebody who could be close to popping that commit.
BuckeyeSalsero: Who's your prediction to win the starting QB job for Buckeyes?
Helwagen: I think it will be Will Howard. I think Devin Brown is working hard to make that a tough decision on the coaches and he will be neck and neck with him. But 2 years of starting experience and a Big 12 title kind of speak for themselves. He's been there and done it in the big moments before.
Howard should start to open the season and if they get ahead then Brown and Julian Sayin should also get opportunities. Great to know they have depth in case something ever happens, certainly.
Gary1971: So is day going add another offensive lineman from the portal or is he done
Helwagen: They have three spots currently available, so if they felt they had a great prospect to add from the portal they would do it. I assume there will be some official visits with some candidates including some OL. Personally, I would also want an experienced RB to be the third-team back if such a guy exists out there.
I guess we will know more in the weeks ahead. I would think they would want somebody in before summer semester begins June 2. More classes begin in early July. But June 2 would be the full summer program.
ButlerBuck: It looks like amateur sports at the NCAA level could officially die this week if the conferences agree to settle all of the anti-trust suits against them. That's a shame. A good number of those kids don't value the education that the rest of us pay 100k for.
Do you think we'll see any D1 schools/leagues drop down to D2 or abandon sports altogether? I don't see how the MAC comes out ahead in any of this if the Big Boys are the ones that will be taking all the money from the playoff and March Madness.
Your thoughts...
Helwagen: Yeah I talked about this with a buddy who is a head men's basketball coach this past weekend in Indianapolis. This will mean different things to different people. But there are so many issues that will need to be resolved. I think the MAC will keep revenue sports but the rest could be dropped to club level due to lack of funds.
I would think even Ohio State might shutter some Olympic sports to make ends meet. Do men get paid the same as women? Do they keep walk-ons or abandon that because one day they would sue seeking the same pay? Do revenue sport athletes make more than Olympic sports athletes? How does any of this satisfy Title IX? Does Congress grant them an antitrust exemption to classify athletes some way other than as fulltime employees (with health and retirement benefits, etc.)?
So many questions to sort through. It's the end of one era and the beginning of another. There will be 35-40 haves that survive at the top level of college football. Then the rest of the ACC/Big 12, then the current Group of Five. Each school will have to decide what they can afford and what they can pay for. Who knows how it will look when the music stops, but we know it will look a lot different.
Heck, it already does.
ohioforever: Hi, Steve. I always appreciate your chats and articles. What do you make of all of the blowouts in the NBA playoffs? There has been some great team play and some players performing at very high levels, but shouldn't playoff games be competitive? All four of the remaining teams have both won and lost games by twenty or more points in the playoffs—those games just aren't fun to watch—so we'll soon have a world champ who was utterly smoked at least once. What gives?
Helwagen: Yeah, it's a different league than what we grew up with. Crazy that Minnesota was down 20 in the second half last night and came back to win at Denver in a Game 7, of all games. I don't want to say there is a lack of pride to NBA basketball ... but the players seem unaffected whether they win or they lose.
I have enjoyed some of the competitive games, but I agree they have been few and far between. Maybe the conference finals and the finals will be better. They certainly didn't protect the teams with all of the stars or all of the big market teams either. Boston and Dallas are good sized markets, I will grant you.
I just kind of tune in and tune out if it's something I want to see.
moonriverbuck: What's with Marvin Harrison and the constant sunglasses?
Helwagen: Ha ha, it's not just Marvin. There were probably 10-15 first round picks who were wearing the sunglasses for their selection and time on the stage. It's just something the guys like to do to promote how cool they are, I guess. It gives you that "I'm above all this" feeling. They will be brought down to earth once training camp starts, though.
Carseye: With NIL and TV money now all geared to the even more stratified nature of big-time football and basketball, is there any incentive for schools like Ohio State, Texas, Georgia, etc. to make any concessions to help the Rutgers, Vanderbilts, and even Texas Tech's of the world compete. A friend of mine worked at Northwestern in the early 1990s and there was a lot of talk about the school getting out of big-time athletics. Then the "Purple to Pasadena" thing happened in '95 (Biakabutuka flashback, Arrgh!)and trustees and donors were "all in" again. That aside, in other words, the rich keep getting richer and the chances for the lower Power 5 schools to even have an occasional dream year are becoming even more remote. Is a super conference the inevitable conclusion or is there hope for mid to low-tier NCAA D1s to stay in the game? I realize that football and basketball are different and that, in hoops, a couple of players can take a mid-major on a dream run.
Helwagen: Yeah, I touched on this above. They are moving closer and closer to super conferences. I think the TV deals for the Big Ten and SEC will allow them to pay football and basketball players more than their counterparts in even the ACC and Big 12 within a few years.
That's when the real separation will begin. They will stack the deck to make sure their schools get preferential treatment for the playoffs. Your point is what will happen if and when the top half of the Big ten and the top half of the SEC collude to do away with the bottom half of their respective leagues? Contractually, they are probably bound to each other. But as we see with the sudden movements by USC, Texas, Oklahoma and the rest, contracts are made to be broken.
The only constant seems to be constant change.
I go back to the early 90s when the WAC and Mountain West were one big 18 team league and it only lasted 4-5 years because every year there is only one champion and 17 schools unhappy. We'll see how long the 18-team Big Ten lasts. If the checks keep coming in and everybody is happy, maybe it lasts longer than we think.
Jonathanhughes: Hey Steve. How are you currently feeling about the offensive line?
How do you feel about quarterback? Seems hard to evaluate how good Howard is during spring. His running is going to be a big part of it and he can't really demonstrate that right now.
Helwagen: I was not real excited about it coming off six sacks in the spring game. But then I looked back at the 2002 and 2014 national championship teams and you notice there were not a lot of NFL linemen who started on those teams.
So maybe I'm off base and they will have an offensive line good enough to get the job done. Certainly, they are experienced and know what to expect. The defense should have them in a position to win every game they play. But you can't expect to win games like how they survived at Notre Dame last year. It's better to put up 35 and hold the opponent to 14 every week. I like that way of doing it better than walking on a high wire every week.
Quarterback they will be fine. Will Howard will probably open as the starter and I think he will do fine. He's been there and produced in big games before. And if something happens Devin Brown is right there and Julian Sayin has the talent to do some positive things as well.
I think Howard's running ability will be important and will help them win some of those tough games as well. He seems like an elite competitor. He's a champion.
walterT: I'm curious as to where the players went on their time off. Home? Stayed and worked out? Any nice vacations?
Helwagen: Coach Day said everybody got two weeks off after completing exams in late April. He said everybody came back rested and refreshed and ready to go.
I assume most of them went back to their hometowns to be with family or on a vacation trip with family or friends. Perhaps some stayed around to work out. But their bodies do need downtime too. I think they are back at it working to get stronger and faster.
No clue specifically where anybody specifically went. But I assume they put that time off to good use. They only get about 5-6 off weeks all year so hope they enjoyed it.
Guys and Gals ... Thank you all so much for reading and participating. Please join us Wednesday at 11 a.m. for our interactive Ohio State Buckeyes Live one hour webcast. We take your questions. I will post the access information at 11 a.m. Wednesday on The Front Row message board.
