Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh doesn't hide his idolization of Ohio State national championship coach Woody Hayes. When Harbaugh donned old-school game day glasses in October. They honored Woody Hayes, Malcolm-X, and Michael Douglas.

“This style in particular is a tip of the cap, a nod to Woody Hayes, to Michael Douglas in the movie ‘Falling Down’ and also a tip of the cap to Malcolm X,” Harbaugh said Saturday night. “In honor of those three men.”

Harbaugh took it a step further Tuesday while doing a national media circuit to promote his new ad with Planters Peanuts, in which he and Mr. Peanut join forces to profiteer on the bondage of other nuts.

While appearing on ESPN radio's Russillo and Kanell, they broached the topic of Harbaugh tweeting out a picture of Hayes wearing a Michigan hat during a charity event in 1984.

The master troll denied doing it as a troll, which is what a master troll would say.

Harbaugh, however, made his idolization of Hayes known.

From Angelique S. Chengelis of Detroit News:

“First of all, you’ve got to understand, Woody Hayes is one of my top three favorite coaches of all time. Bo Schembechler, Woody Hayes, Bear Bryant, those are my three favorites of all time.

“I’ve read all the books (Hayes) wrote. I try to emulate him, I really do in so many ways. I think he’s just one of the greatest of all time. I came across the the pictures recently of Woody in an M hat, and I thought it was pretty cool and tweeted it out. More collegial than anything. It’s been a great rivalry. I know Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler respected it as do I.”

And this concludes another chapter in "Jim Harbaugh Does Thing."

The first thing out of J.T. Barrett's mouth when asked about new quarterbacks coach Ryan Day is a line or two about the latter's NFL experience. Barrett dreams of playing professional football like any other player that walks through the doors at Ohio State's Woody Hayes Athletic Center. As such, getting tutored by a man that has worked with Sam Bradford, Colin Kaepernick and others responsible for performing at the most important position in sports can't hurt.

“He had two years with Philadelphia and been with the 49ers. So he knows that level and he knows what it takes in order for you to play at that level,” Barrett said on March 9. “I think that being that I want to play in the NFL, he's helping me and giving me the tools where he's been able to do so.”

Barrett is on this third quarterbacks coach in five seasons at Ohio State. Day has something his predecessors do not: experience as an employee of the best football league in the world. Tom Herman is now the head coach at the University of Texas and Tim Beck is his quarterbacks coach. Day worked with Chip Kelly first in Philadelphia with the Eagles and then last season in San Francisco.

Barrett is under pressure from fans and Urban Meyer to work with Day and new offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson to get the Ohio State passing attack back to the same level it operated during the 2014 season. Herman called the offensive shots then and the Buckeyes won the inaugural College Football Playoff. But a tangible regression the past two seasons forced Meyer's hand and resulted in the exits of Beck and coordinator Ed Warinner.

“I want to see more accuracy,” Meyer said recently.

Barrett is back for a fifth season and spirits are high early in spring practice. Tempo is expected to return to the offense, he is supposed to go back to distributing the football to a bevy of weapons on the outside and the unit must purr with efficiency while points shower across scoreboards. Its disjointedness left a sour taste in the mouth of everyone involved with the program after a 31-0 humbling by Clemson in the 2016 Playoff.

Day has never worked with or coached against Barrett in his career. Barrett has never played for or requested help from Day in his. The fact their paths did not ever cross before January means both had to start from square one.

“I think the one thing he appreciates with me is that it is a clean slate,” Day said on Tuesday. “Every day he's trying to prove to me and I'm trying to prove to him the worth to each other.”

A fractured ankle forced Barrett to the sidelines for the 2014 postseason and inserted strong-armed Cardale Jones into the lineup. You know the rest of that story: Jones's prowess and touch down the field coupled with speedster Devin Smith, a powerful rushing attack and other playmakers like Michael Thomas and Jalin Marshall yielded the school's eighth national title.

Barrett's arm isn't as powerful as Jones's — there aren't many people on the planet blessed with that kind of talent — but he is a cerebral player, leader and a terrifically talented runner. Meyer, Day, Wilson and Barrett himself have all stated repeatedly how well Ohio State's offense operates when the deep ball is clicking off of a play-action pass. It went missing the last two seasons but Barrett did show the ability to do it in 2014.

It is up to Day to claw it back out of him.

“We're emphasizing it just as much as anybody else. Obviously, when you complete the deep ball, it changes everything,” Day said. “It's not just the quarterback, it's not just the receivers, it's everybody involved in it. But when you can be explosive in the passing game it makes a huge difference.”

Day studied every bit of tape Ohio State had available of Barrett's first three seasons as the team's quarterback, with a primary focus on 2016. He claims he didn't see any hesitation or lack of confidence from Barrett but brought up the quarterback's feet and decision-making.

“We're constantly working on his footwork,” Day said. “We're constantly working on getting the ball out.”

Any partially informed football eye could notice that Barrett wasted steps in the pocket that threw off the timing between him and his receivers last season. But as has been stated by Meyer and everyone else many times, the struggles throwing the ball did not solely revolve around him.

In order to fix them, it is on Barrett to be receptive to what Day is teaching him. After all, they don't have much time together — only 12 guaranteed games. The hope is the new offensive brain trust and a renewed focus on tempo brings that total to 15, the same number Ohio State played during the magical season it ran roughshod over Wisconsin, Alabama and Oregon.

“I think the one thing he appreciates with me is that it is a clean slate. Every day he's trying to prove to me and I'm trying to prove to him the worth to each other.”– Ryan Day

“I think one of the things that can't be talked about enough as a quarterback is make sure you have the people around you in place and make sure that they're playing at the highest level they can play at in order for myself to be successful,” Barrett said. “Because as a quarterback, we know we need everybody to be a part of the party.”

Barrett also spoke about needing better accuracy with his throws in an effort to help his receivers be in a greater position to make plays after the catch. Hitting them in stride, protecting them from defenders, and the like.

And with a diploma in hand and only online coursework to worry about as he pursues a graduate degree, Barrett says his life "all ball" now.

“Before I had to go to tutoring, I had to go to class, had to take care of that whereas now I've taken care of that,” Barrett said. “It's literally just ball and with that it's full throttle, pedal to the medal, trying to make sure that we can all be on the same page.”

That starts with getting to know and trusting Day and Wilson, but primarily his new quarterbacks coach.

The good thing for Ohio State is they have that clean slate both with the same goal — to win games and get Barrett to the next level.

“I think it's going to help not just me but the quarterbacks in the room. You come to Ohio State, your goal is to play quarterback in the NFL,” Barrett said. “That's just not helping myself but helping all of us.”

“He's a grown man. He's like a professional when he shows up every day,” Day added. “From when I got here until now, I can see the best thing he does is play the game. You can see in today's practice, we got up there and started playing it, and he's moving the team up and down the field. At the end of the day, that's what's most important as a quarterback. Leading the other 10 guys on the field and then moving the team down the field to score points.”

“Definitely,” Baker said, rather abruptly.

Ohio State’s junior outside linebacker was asked if he could tell his new position coach, Bill Davis, had NFL experience. It was pretty clear from his quick response that was exactly one of the first things Baker noticed.

“From the first meeting you could tell this has to be an NFL meeting room because the way he coached, his style, is geared toward pro athletes,” Baker said. “You could just tell he had been in the NFL for a few years.”

Twenty-four years to be exact. That’s how long Davis coached in the NFL prior to accepting a new role this winter as Ohio State’s linebackers coach. Davis replaced longtime assistant Luke Fickell, who finally got his shot at running his own program as the head coach at Cincinnati.

Ohio State's current crop of linebackers noticed Davis’ NFL experience from the get-go.

“There’s a lot of things that he’ll say and you have to really study it and really understand and if you don’t, you’ve got to ask questions,” Baker said. “He’s not going to keep going back and going over it. If you have something you’re struggling on, you have to go ask him.”

Added senior middle linebacker Chris Worley: “He definitely has an NFL feel to him. He’s a little different than Coach Fick about how they teach. They teach the same things, but they just teach it in a different way.”

The NFL approach resonates with Ohio State players because, let’s face it, just about every single one has aspirations of playing at the next level. That’s why many come to Columbus to play college football. They want to make it to the NFL.

And if there is someone who is capable of spotting at NFL linebacker, it might be the guy with 20-plus years experience coaching the position at that level.

“There’s a lot of meat left on the bone before I can say that,” Davis said. “I will say there’s a very athletic group. They’ve got great size and length and athleticism. All the pieces are there and now we just have to work our way into where we can say this is an NFL group.”

Under the direction of Fickell, Ohio State pumped out a ridiculous run of linebackers to the next level. From A.J. Hawk, Bobby Carpenter and James Laurinaitis to Ryan Shazier and Darron Lee. Raekwon McMillan is slated to be the next in line at next month’s NFL Draft.  

Davis hopes to continue that pipeline.

“I think Coach Fickell did an outstanding job and the work speaks for itself. How many NFL players have Coach Fickell and the Ohio State Buckeyes under his coaching got into the NFL?” Davis said. “I think that’s real. There’s no team that has more NFL linebackers than Ohio State.”

“It’s a tradition that we’re very proud of but right now, the group that’s here cannot focus on any of that. They have to focus on being the best Ohio State Buckeye they can be and see what they can get done.”

The transition is ongoing. Fickell recruited and developed every member of Ohio State’s linebacker room and he’s no longer there. It would be difficult for anybody to just step right in and replace that.

But Davis has something a lot of other coaches don’t. He has been to where all of his players want to be.

“It’s up to us to kind of adapt to it because he’s still adapting as well,” Worley said. “He was in the NFL and there’s certain things that college does that the NFL don’t do and vice versa. We’re all kind of learning each other right now.”

“It prepares you for the future,” Baker added. “That’s my goal, to play in the NFL, so it’s preparing me and it’s fun just to be a part of it.”

Woody Hayes was asked that question in the final year of his life, understanding that perception has a stubborn tendency of lingering despite seismic shifts to reality. Those resplendent and turbulent Ohio State Saturdays with him on the sidelines would always overshadow the now. 

His final years took place in relative darkness or in front of a few curious cameras. Live television and high stakes were in his past. Changing and aging were of little consequence to the larger perception. That was baked and set for eternity after the games were finished being played.

By 1986 the larger-than-life football coach, eight years removed from college football, barely resembled his notorious sideline persona. Woody was a reconciliatory and empathetic old man.

Woody Hayes throwing a yard marker, forever.

For 28 years he had been Ohio State's football tyrant. Woody was originally Plan B in 1951 after Don Faurot got skittish and chose to remain at Missouri. The locals wanted him fired numerous times both early and during what would become the middle of his tenure for failing to win enough. That's what happens to Ohio State coaches, eventually.

But then the late 1960s happened, and he was cemented as transformational to Ohio State football. Paul Brown with a red-hot temper; a national icon. He became Buckeye football. 

Woody was foul-mouthed. He loved both history and psychology. His Ohio State teams schemed fewer than eight plays a game - which any average football coach could fully prepare for - and then resoundingly fail to stop on Saturday.

He routinely punched himself during practices to get players' attention. He punched a cameraman on live television. And then he punched Charlie Bauman.

That final punch was more than a pink slip; it was supposed to be an epitaph. Eight football seasons later without him on any sideline, he was growing increasingly frail and would be gone in under a year. How did Woody want to be remembered?

 "I'd like to be respected for my integrity," he says as he clutches the arms on his chair. "And respected for the interest in the people whom I coached. And I try to be a good American citizen."

Outside of Ohio, Woody basically disappeared once the Buckeyes lost that Gator Bowl and that epitaph was written. But in Ohio and in reality, he quickly traded in his Coach's Show and replaced it with a hosting gig for a war history program on PBS.

He approached Ohio State - which had rightfully relieved him of coaching duties - and went back into teaching. His classrooms were always full. When he wasn't on campus he would go on the lecture circuit, speaking to alumni groups, interest groups and even on behalf of Bo Schembechler just hours before he died.

The man who could not contain his emotions as a football coach failed to control them in a completely different way upon being asked to deliver the commencement at the school that had fired him:

He died three months after that commencement speech.

His posthumous gift to the university created the endowment for the Woody Hayes Chair in National Security Studies at Ohio State. Eight months after his death the WHAC was dedicated in his honor. Today, Buckeye football begins and ends in the building named for him. 

It's a lifetime removed from his final night on a sideline. After he was fired, Woody found the grace to exit coaching - and eventually his life - on the right side of humanity. As a result he and Ohio State will coexist on the best terms for eternity.

He made his reputation. He ended his career. And ultimately he made it right again.

Enter Knight

via

How do you want to be remembered?

The two men knew each other well. Hayes was coaching the football Buckeyes while Knight was (barely) playing for basketball ones. Parallels have been laid out for decades; two native Ohioans from small towns whose paths crossed in Columbus and both went on to have Hall of Fame careers littered with championships and iconic moments of their respective sports, both triumphant and tragic.

Stubborn. Gruff. Temperamental. Terminated, for putting their hands on a college student after careers spotted with physical brush-ups. It turned out the moment Knight was fired was when the career arc and personality parallels with Woody ended, but few have cared or noticed (though Knight was objectively worse with the whole physical part).

Gary Varvel's Indianapolis Star cartoon above was drawn 15 years after Woody died. Perception has a stubborn tendency of lingering despite how he spent his final nine years. You remember both coaches in triumph and defeat, but always under the spotlight's unforgiving glare.

Woody got himself fired on live national television. Knight earned his termination under aZero Tolerance mandate in the mostly-empty corridors of Assembly Hall during student football ticket pickup. Both were larger than life and tracked constantly while at their respective schools. Both had cameras trained on them during games to capture the show inside the show.

As a result IU's benches were deliberately situated on the wrong side of court during Knight's tenure. That's why the footage of him famously throwing a chair onto the court is from behind, not facing him as it would have been anywhere else. The primary television camera's position captured fewer of his tantrums that way (you have to admit moving the benches was far more elegant than, say, punching the cameraman).

How do you want to be remembered? Knight provided an unsolicited request for his burial before a full house on Senior Night at Assembly Hall while he was still on Indiana's payroll:

"(Knight) is in a race now between overcoming immaturity and disaster.”

That's renown Duke University professor Edwin Cady, who has been dead for 13 years. Cady said that about Knight back in 1971 when the IU athletics committee he chaired first recommended hiring him away from Army to come to Bloomington.

The race Cady referred to ended long ago, and Knight never showed any interest in winning it - either while coaching or ever since. Perhaps the greatest irony in how he has handled his legacy at Indiana, which obviously did not end on his own terms, is how he views his Ohio State playing career which concluded with two losses in national championship games - also not exactly how he would have chosen to leave Columbus, either: 

If you're going to let a loss determine the outcome of your life, you've got a lot of problems.

Knight has allowed his bitterness over Indiana to undermine his legacy further and cement his eulogy. Openly wishing on live air that the people who helped facilitate his termination were all dead is an impossible U-Turn, not that he will ever second-guess himself. Woody was never that stubborn. If anything, he stayed curious until he died.

The passage of time only helped Woody rehabilitate his relationship with Ohio State and his image with Buckeye fans. Knight exited Bloomington 17 years ago this September, over twice the amount of time Hayes had after coaching. 

Woody is still larger than life in 2017, three full decades after his passing. He may be gone but he hasn't been allowed to die, and the most overlooked part of how in the hell that happened was how he transformed following his exit from coaching.

It's over, even for the die-hards.

Knight, on the other hand, will eventually pass away quietly with the requisite media boilerplate eulogies and highlight packages. Copious sound bytes and lowlights will be included too, as with Hayes, but the General will have a full complement of them that came away from the basketball court. He will not find that grace or empathy. Knight rejected both despite numerous opportunities to reconcile, from Cady's statement to his recent death wishes.

One of the greatest coaches and most fascinating sports figures in history (as well as the greatest basketball instructor I've personally ever had) will not have had to go out the way he undoubtedly will, and that is what separates Woody from Knight. The ways they started and finished may have had striking parallels, but their lives beyond coaching could not be more different.

Woody's burial wish created that endowment at Ohio State. Knight's was to be buried upside down. It's just unlikely any of his critics will bother puckering up at his grave.

Please help Eleven Warriors build a life-size statue of Woody Hayes in his hometown of Newcomerstown, OH.

Every day I wake up and thank any number of deities that I did not come of age in a time where my dumbass ramblings and even worse actions were not eligible to be sprayed on social media for the rest of eternity. They're there, somewhere in the ether of Web 1.0; a cacophony of extremely hot takes that are now mercifully lost to the ages.

Guys like Ezekiel Elliott, Tom Herman, and Bruce Hooley don't have that luxury anymore. If you're high profile and do something dumb, that's eternal. This week the Dubcast looks at some recent foibles involving all of these guys, and adds in a little Dr. Lou for spice. Oh, and I feel like the wrestling team/Kyle Snyder were pretty awesome of late as well? We get into that, too.

Plus, Ask Us Anything decides what to do with a ponytail, and if you have more follicle-related questions, hit us up via e-mail or Twitter! And after you listen to that be sure to rate and subscribe on iTunes, because that's what the cool kids do.

0:00-OLD MAN WEARS WRONG THING!

9:27- Tom Herman doesn't like snow, makes an embarrassing Tweet, gets roasted on the Eleven Dubcast.

19:20- Wrestling is cool, Penn State is going to win forever, but Kyle Snyder is an angry, vengeful wrestling god with a year of eligibility left.

31:29- Who knew that a cruise could be so controversial, and that it'd end being the dramabomb involving so many Ohio State players and personalities?

45:00- Ask Us Anything endorses the classic Rat Tail as our hairstyle du jour.

And that'll do it! Thanks to Travis for the cool logo, thanks to you for listening, and while you're at it, check out the Dry Goods Store to help support 11W and the Dubcast. Beau will be out next week, but we'll still be rolling along, so we'll see you then!

As the Buckeyes wrapped up their third practice of spring ball, former All-American center Pat Elflein was off in the distance, to the side, working by himself on pass protection drills. There was nobody else around. There were no cameras. It was just a football player a month away from the biggest weekend of his life trying to improve.

Ohio State hosts its annual Pro Day on Thursday afternoon. Elflein was simply getting in some last minute preparations.

Thirteen former Buckeyes — and Tiffin quarterback Antonio Pipkin— are expected to be in front of dozens of NFL personnel and executives. It won't be quite the spectacle as last year's event — which featured 22 players working out, an overwhelming number of NFL people and live coverage on ESPN — but it's still a big deal as Ohio State has yet another monster class ready to move on to the next level.

First, a list of which former Buckeyes are expected at Pro Day: safety Jarrod Barnes, wide receiver Noah Brown, cornerback Gareon Conley, kicker Tyler Durbin, center Pat Elflein, linebacker Craig Fada, punter Cam Johnston, cornerback Marshon Lattimore, linebacker Raekwon McMillan, running back/wide receiver Curtis Samuel, wide receiver Corey Smith and running back/wide receiver Dontre Wilson.

The potential first player selected from Ohio State, safety Malik Hooker, is also expected to be in attendance but will not work out due to surgery following the 2016 season. 

Below are some storylines to watch at Ohio State's annual Pro Day:

Big Day For Noah Brown

There may not be a player with more to prove Thursday than Brown, who opted not to run the 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. A big question mark surrounding Brown is his speed, so if he runs at Pro Day — as he is expected to — it's a huge chance for him to show scouts how fast he truly is.

Many were surprised when Brown announced he was declaring for the NFL Draft after a redshirt sophomore season that featured just 32 catches for 402 yards and seven touchdowns — four of which came in one game. But if Brown has a strong showing Thursday in Columbus, perhaps he could solidify himself as a mid-round pick.

Marshon Lattimore Can Cement No. 1 Cornerback Status

Lattimore did not do much at the Combine after he injured his hip flexor during his second 40-yard dash. In his first 40-yard dash attempt, Lattimore clocked a 4.36 which showcased elite speed for a corner. It's unclear whether or not he'll run at Pro Day, but to be honest, he probably shouldn't nor does he really need to.

He didn't get to do on-field workout drills in Indianapolis, however, and it's expected he'll do those for scouts and executives Thursday. If he performs as well as many think he can solidify himself as the No. 1 corner in this draft.

Combine Non-Invitees Get Their Shot

Not everybody working out Thursday got a shot at the NFL Combine. Pro Day presents those players a chance to catch some eyes and get on the radar of some teams that are in attendance.

Namely, this is big for Corey Smith and Dontre Wilson, who likely won't be drafted but have chances to earn invites to NFL training camps. Smith and Wilson need to run fast in their expected 40-yard dash attempts and perform well in positional drills in hopes of catching the attention of a few teams.

Tomorrow starts the first day to the rest of my life . May God be with me ! Send me up a quick prayer i would truly appreciate it

— Dontre (TRE) Wilson (@treydayy_) March 22, 2017

Samuel, McMillan, Elflein & Conley Aim to Improve Draft Stock

Malik Hooker and Marshon Lattimore are surefire first-round picks in next month's NFL Draft.

Noah Brown, Gareon Conley, Curtis Samuel, Raekwon McMillan and Pat Elflein — the other players from Ohio State expected to get drafted — aren't quite there yet, though Conley certainly looks like a first rounder after his NFL Combine performance last month.

We've already hinted at Brown perhaps having the most to prove among these other players, but Samuel, McMillan, Elflein and Conley can also help themselves with strong showings. Samuel, McMillan and Conley all blazed down the track at the NFL Combine so it's unclear if they'll run again Thursday at Pro Day, but with solid on-field performances, each could see their stock increase.

Samuel, in particular, needs to continue to show his wide-ranging skill set. It wouldn't surprise us to see him do some running back work Thursday as he worked out solely with the wide receivers in Indianapolis.

Recruiting, Recruiting, Recruiting

While Thursday will be about players from Ohio State's most recent team, don't think for a second Urban Meyer and his staff won't take full advantage of this opportunity and showcase it to recruits.

There won't be live ESPN and NFL Network coverage like last year, but expect to see the Buckeyes pumping out content all day on social media. Meyer invited a handful of prospects to campus last year, too, as a lot of high schools are on spring break. It wouldn't be a surprise to see that again, either.

After a 17-15 season capped by a listless loss to lowly Rutgers in the B1G tournament, Ohio State's hoops season was mercifully euthanized as neither the NCAA or NIT tournaments saw the Buckeyes worthy of inclusion. 

Missing the 2017 Dance came on the heels of failing to qualify for the 2016 edition and combined with the 2007-08 season in which the Buckeyes ended up cutting down the NIT nets, and the 2004-05 season that saw Ohio State go 20-12 in Thad's first year before self-imposed sanctions from the Jim O'Brien era kept the team out of any postseason action, Matta's program has stayed home to watch the NCAA tourney four times in 13 seasons. 

Obviously, Matta gets a pass for that 2004-05 miss. How many times Ohio State missed the Dance under Matta is not the topic here anyway. Instead, considering Gene Smith confirmed Matta will be back next year, I wanted to look at how Matta's teams have fared the season after failing to make the NCAA tournament in search of any useful perspective. 

2005-06 SEASON

The 2005-06 season was a bit of an odd circumstance for the purposes of this writing as it followed up the 2004-05 squad that did manage to post a 20-12 record including an 8-8 mark in Big Ten action, good for 6th place overall, but due to self-imposed sanctions following the Jim O'Brien era, the 2005-06 team wasn't eligible for any postseason play. 

Optimism rained down on the 2005-06 team, Matta's second in Columbus, thanks to his first squad racking up those 20 wins including one over top-ranked Illinois in early March and a bevy of returning players including Terence Dials, Je'Kel Foster, Jamar Butler, J.J. Sullinger, Ivan Harris, Matt Terwilliger and Matt Sylvester. 

Also of note, Ron Lewis was now able to play after sitting out a year upon transferring from Bowling Green. 

A balanced attack in which four guys averaged double figures was led by Dials who averaged 15.3 points and 8.0 rebounds per game en route to B1G Player of the Year honors. Something missing from Thad's recent teams, Dials emerged as that go-to guy just about every legit team needs. 

Sullinger also played his role nicely with 10.1 points and 7.0 boards per game while Foster was a beast defensively who also could hit the three (12.2 ppg). His all-around game earned 2nd-team All-B1G and Butler made 3rd team All-B1G. 

A gritty, balanced team, the Buckeyes cruised through the B1G regular season with a 12-4 mark, winning the league outright. Matta's crew also reached the B1G tournament final before falling to Iowa. 

The season's resume earned a No. 2 seed in the Big Dance. 

In what should have been a sign of bad news to come, the Buckeyes beat 15-seed Davidson in the opening round but only by a score of 70-62, setting up a second round matchup with 7-seed Georgetown. 

Blessed with tremendous size, the Hoyas worked the Buckeyes, 70-52, cutting short what was still a hell of a season. Roy Hibbert owned the paint with 20 points and 14 boards while Jeff Greene tossed in 19 points. Only four Hoyas scored but with Hibbert and Greene doing work and Georgetown owning the glass, 37-24, a trip to the Sweet Sixteen was not to be for Matta's squad. 

Still, Thad earned B1G Coach of the Year honors and the great season helped ease the sting of the NCAA dictating Ohio State erase all records from 1998-99 through 2001-02 as punishment for Jim O'Brien's misdeeds. 

2008-09 SEASON

The scenario surrounding the 2008-09 season stood in sharp contrast to the 2005-06 season as far as coming off a non-NCAA tournament campaign.

The season prior, 2007-08, saw the Buckeyes relegated to the NIT where they went all the way to New York City and captured the crown. Butler carried the load (15.0 ppg, 5.9 apg) along with freshman Kosta Koufos who claimed tournament MVP honors as part of a 14.9 ppg, 6.7 rpg season that saw him (and his family) debate with Matta exactly how he should be deployed in Thad's offense. 

The team went 24-13 overall and 10-8 in B1G play to finish 5th. 

Entering the 2008-09 season, Matta needed to find four new starters as Butler, Koufos and Othello Hunter were history and things got worse when David Lighty broke his foot early in the season. 

Forced to break in those four new starters alongside a blossoming Evan Turner, the Buckeyes were humbled just after Christmas in a 76-48 home loss to West Virginia and went 4-7 against ranked teams. 

Turner did everything for the Buckeyes. He led the B1G in scoring at 17.3 points per game, logged 7.1 boards and 4.0 assists on the way to 1st-team All-B1G honors. William Buford picked up B1G Freshman of the Year while Jon Diebler was honorable mention (11.2). 

B.J. Mullens (yes, he was still B.J. then) didn't quite do as much as expected but managed 8.8 points and 4.7 boards while the Buckeyes sorely lacked a point guard as Jeremie Simmons and P.J. Hill were typically overmatched at the critical spot. 

The Buckeyes did reach the B1G tournament final before falling to Purdue, leading to an 8-seed in the NCAA tourney. Unfortunately, Ohio State blew an 11-point 2nd half lead before falling to 9-seed Siena in double overtime to finish the season at 22-11 overall and 10-8 in league action, good for a 4th place tie. 

2016-17 SEASON

Failing to make the NCAA tournament as part of a 2015-16 campaign that saw the Buckeyes go 21-14 overall and 11-7 in B1G play before bowing out in the 2nd round of the NIT, the general belief was 2016-17 would the season Matta got his program back in the thick of the B1G race and by extension back into the NCAA tournament. 

Freshman Austin Grandstaff transferred early in the 2015-16 campaign and right after the season ended fellow recruiting class members Mickey Mitchell, A.J. Harris and Daniel Giddens followed suit. 

Interestingly, Matta took the low road for probably the first time in his career, going out of his way to say the transfers were essentially addition by subtraction and would allow him to get back to coaching players that wanted to be at Ohio State and went about their business in the proper fashion. 

Though a bit startling to lose an entire class after one season, many were hopeful heading into the 2016-17 season because Matta returned his top six contributors from the previous season in JaQuan Lyle, Keita Bates-Diop, Jermaine Tate, Marc Loving, Trevor Thompson and Kam Williams. 

A funny thing happened on the way back to respectability however as Bates-Diop played just nine games before season-ending surgery while the healthy guys struggled to consistently and collectively deliver the effort, basketball IQ and talent necessary to keep from being anything other than the most frustrating team of Matta's OSU tenure. 

Losing to Florida Atlantic, hanging with Virginia but coming up short and not getting blown out by UCLA highlighted the non-conference before the group started 0-4 in B1G action. 

To their credit, the squad didn't throw in the towel after the rough start, winning three of the next four. In late February they would avenge an 89-66 blowout loss to Wisconsin with a 10-point home win over the now-Sweet Sixteen bound Badgers and a 4-point win over Michigan in Ann Arbor also served as a season highlight.

Unfortunately, the squad bottomed out over its final two games allowing 96 points to Indiana (most ever scored against OSU in the Schott) before falling to lowly Rutgers in a lackluster effort to kick off the B1G tournament.

At 17-15 overall and 7-11 in league play, that resume wasn't enough to attract any postseason tournament action.

2017-18 SEASON

Next fall, Matta will begin another effort to rebuild his program after missing the NCAA tournament. 

He'll do so knowing he returns seven of his top nine rotational guys from last year, with Loving and Thompson no longer in the fold. The return of Bates-Diop could also prove huge to a team void of a go-to scoring option in addition to adding a guy who can create his own shot and help slow down an opponent's best wing player. 

Matta also welcomes incoming freshman sensation Kaleb Wesson (along with point guard Braxton Beverly). Wesson, a 6'9" pivot player, could give Matta an immediate boost especially with Thompson's decision to move on. 

Beyond individual talents that must be improved over the summer, Matta must also consider what else can be done to address his ailing program. Without any roster flexibility, Matta may choose to modify the look of his staff. Tim covered a few options recently including shaking up the coaching staff with Greg Paulus and his under-performing units over the last two seasons as the most likely target. 

One thing seems certain, even though Gene Smith offered support to Matta via a statement before the Rutgers debacle, this is a program in flux that needs to step it up before performance, attendance and interest in Ohio State basketball depletes any further. 

“It’s all the mental game,” McMillan said last month at the 2017 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. “You can be the best physical player in the world ... To get on the field [you] have to be mentally gifted.”

Chris Worley is the stark opposite of a true freshman but is undergoing transition this spring as the current selection from the Ohio State coaching staff to replace McMillan at middle linebacker in 2017. A two-year starter at arguably the most important position on defense in addition to a team captain, the shoes McMillan leaves behind are spacious. Worley played outside linebacker last year, his first full year as a starter.

With a shift one spot over in the middle of an Ohio State defense that was one of the nation's best a year ago under way, it isn't a surprise to hear Worley mention the added strain of knowing what each of his teammates is supposed to do on any given play and getting them in the right place when he discusses being the new quarterback of the defense.

But don't you dare think he is the least bit worried about it.

“Not everybody can get everybody else lined up and still hold their own. A lot of them can just take care of themselves and Chris is outstanding at getting everybody and himself lined up.”– Billy Davis

“I’ve always been crazy confident. You can ask any coach. When I’m on that field, I’m just different,” Worley said on Tuesday after Ohio State's third practice of spring. “I'm just being more vocal about it now.”

Worley has been around for a while — the 2017 season will be his fifth in the program — and exhibits plenty of gusto when he talks about having to step in for McMillan, a Butkus finalist and soon to be early round draft pick. In a sense, he has sort of waited for this opportunity for a while. Worley won the starting outside linebacker job out of fall camp in 2014, only to yield to a guy named Darron Lee.

That didn't stop him from staying vocal, though — just in a different way.

“I didn’t want to be the biggest loudmouth and wasn’t even really touching the field in the ways that I wanted to, you know I played special teams,” Worley said. “Sometimes it’s better to just go under the radar and just help the team in any way that they need you, but now I feel I’m in a position to be more vocal.”

He has always been that way in front of television cameras and microphones. A Cleveland kid from Glenville High School, earning a scholarship and becoming an impact player for Ohio State was always the dream.

He blossomed into a key and more than dependable part of Luke Fickell's defense in 2016 alongside McMillan and opposite of Jerome Baker, logging 69 tackles (4.5 for loss) and an interception against Michigan State. Three times, he recorded double-digit tackles.

“You can see that the last few games — Michigan State, That Team Up North — I played in the box a lot based on the type of offense,” Worley said. “I did pretty good: double-digit tackles against Team Up North, three tackles against Michigan State and an interception. So I’m very comfortable in the box. I’m excited, so we’ll see how it all unfolds.”

Urban Meyer said two weeks ago that Worley is the heir apparent for McMillan — for now. It could change and new linebackers coach Billy Davis expects Worley to be ready to play all three linebacker spots. Ohio State requires that of all players at the position.

But with McMillan on to the NFL, Worley is the best candidate to keep the foundation Fickell set moving in the right direction.

“It’s a little bit of everything with probably the key piece being the strong leadership. He’s our quarterback,” Davis said. “He has a great understanding of he has to line everybody else up and then do his job.”

He better, because McMillan was the best at that. Defensive end Jalyn Holmes said late last season his pre-snap responsibilities were simple: “Wait for Raekwon to tell me what to do.”

For reference, here is everything McMillan did in essentially the span of a few breaths before the opposing quarterback took the snap from the center:

These are the pre-snap responsibilities Ohio State bestows upon middle linebacker Raekwon McMillan every play: pic.twitter.com/x9DQEbxPDr

— Eric Seger (@EricSeger33) October 31, 2016

Tired yet? Worley isn't.

“I’m a highly intelligent guy on the football field. It’s not that big of a burden on me to get other guys lined up and stuff,” he said. “I’m just kind of embracing it and going with the flow.”

“Not everybody can do that. Not everybody can get everybody else lined up and still hold their own,” Davis added. “A lot of them can just take care of themselves and Chris is outstanding at getting everybody and himself lined up.”

Worley said he added a handful of extra pounds to be ready to stand proudly in the middle of Ohio State's defense. McMillan checked in at 240 pounds at the NFL Combine, a shade under 6-foot-2. Worley is the same height and claims he played around 235 or 236 pounds last season. So the body frames, their tenacity and obsession with hitting people are similar.

“I loved it. I got to hit people,” Worley said when asked how the team's first day in full pads of spring practice went. “I haven’t done that since we took that big loss, so it was good to get a little bit of that frustration out, but doing it in the right way, not trying to hurt your teammates or anything. It wasn’t like a scrimmage. Just thud and stay up. But I finally got to hit some of them offensive linemen and let them know I’m here.”

All that is left is the mental aspect of playing quarterback, taking everything he can from McMillan and applying it.

“It speaks to how coach Meyer and coach Fickell and now coach Davis and coach Schiano, how they’ve sort of raised the linebacker group to sort of feed off of each other,” Worley said. “But I also put the work in so I’m ready for it.”

Looks like Jumpman is going all in on its push to the gridiron.

Future first round pick and former Ohio State All-American safety Malik Hooker said he signed a contract with Jordan brand last week and showed up to OSU's pro day rocking his new apparel.

Malik Hooker said he signed a deal last week with the Jordan brand. Here was his attire today. pic.twitter.com/YvucNRkj0s

— Tim Shoemaker (@TimShoemaker) March 23, 2017

Hooker joins the likes of Dez Bryant, Charles Woodson, Michael Crabtree and Josh Freeman to sign a Jumpman deal.

"They don't sign too many people," Hooker said. "For me to be in that position to say I signed with Jordan, it's definitely a blessing and a shocking thing for me."

A Google search of 'Ohio State fight song' reveals three possible answers, so students were working with a larger answer bank than normal with this question. Still, only one of them got it right.

One of the answers that comes up on Google is Carmen Ohio, so even though it might not be a fight song per se, we'll give Mackenzie at least half a point (and a correct ding rather than the buzzer).

Oh, Brandon. Surely you had to have known at least one of the fight songs. FIGHT THE TEAM ACROSS THE FIELD, BRANDON. C'MON MAN.

Aliyyah was *this close* to getting it. She even had a name of one of the fight songs, but she said it isn't The Buckeye Battle Cry. *sigh* Maybe one day we'll get someone who has all this Ohio State trivia memorized.

In other news, students still can't spell Nuernberger. Will they ever learn?

Got a question or piece of trivia you want to see featured in a future video? Drop it in the comments below or send it to me on Twitter and it might be used!

One-hundred and fifteen personnel from all 32 NFL teams, including nine head coaches and six general managers, were at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center on Thursday afternoon for Ohio State's 2017 Pro Day.

Cornerbacks Marshon Lattimore and Gareon Conley, linebackers Raekwon McMillan and Craig Fada, H-Backs Dontre Wilson and Curtis Samuel, wide receivers Noah Brown and Corey Smith, center Pat Elflein, punter Cam Johnston and kicker Tyler Durbin ran through various drills designed to improve their draft stock. Safety Malik Hooker, meanwhile, did not participate after having surgery this offseason.

The NFL Draft will take place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 27-29.

Check out photos from Pro Day above.

It wasn't quite the zoo as a year ago, but don't believe for a second that NFL teams are anywhere close to forgetting about Ohio State.

Urban Meyer's program completed its fourth practice of the spring season on Thursday morning at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. Then 13 former Buckeyes and a quarterback from a nearby Division II program took center stage in front of a bevy of personnel from the world's best football league.

Last year, ESPN and NFL Network hosted live coverage of the event, where 22 former Buckeyes and 12 eventual draft picks worked out. Meyer and Co. still rubbed elbows with people like five-time Super Bowl champion and New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, though.

Here are our biggest takeaways from the day.

Ohio State's NFL Train Shows No Signs of Stopping

The final count of NFL personnel in attendance on Thursday: nine head coaches, seven general managers, 122 scouts and at least one representative from every team. There was also a scout from the Canadien Football League. Ohio State credentialed 79 media members.

The NFL head coaches: Pittsburgh's Mike Tomlin, Cleveland's Hue Jackson, Baltimore's John Harbaugh, New Orleans's Sean Payton, Detroit's Jim Caldwell, Cincinnati's Marvin Lewis, Tennessee's Mike Mularkey, New York's Todd Bowles and Belichick. The latter spent more than 20 minutes chatting with and standing next to Meyer watching the 40-yard dashes.

Count 'em 9 @NFL head coaches in the building for #OSUProDay#GoBuckspic.twitter.com/jXNVMjLxWq

— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) March 23, 2017

So even though Pro Day wasn't nearly in the same realm as the circus that occurred last year, more than enough NFL brass made the trip to Columbus with draft day a mere 35 days out. The offensive skill on display wasn't nearly on the same level as a year ago but the day represented a massive opportunity for a group of receivers.

Noah Brown Shows a Burst

Neither Ohio State or the scouts in attendance released the times they recorded in the 40-yard dash on Thursday but Brown showed he has solid straight-line speed. He reportedly ran a 4.55, an excellent time for a big-bodied receiver who stands 6-foot-2 and 222 pounds and elected not to run at the NFL Combine last month.

Only Dontre Wilson, Craig Fada, Jarrod Barnes and Corey Smith joined Brown in the 40, as Pat Elflein, Curtis Samuel and the three star defensive backs were either physically unable to work out or chose to not run after posting terrific times at the Combine.

Still, Brown caught every pass that came near him from Tiffin quarterback Antonio Pipkin, rising high in the back of the end zone a few times and coming down with two feet in bounds. The receivers did not face any defenders as they went out for passes, yet Brown showed solid footwork in and out of cuts in addition to explosiveness in the three-cone drill.

He spent the majority of the catching portion of his workout on the right side of the field, focusing on near sideline and back of the end zone grabs on passes from Pipkin.

Brown did not speak to reporters after his workouts. An Ohio State spokesman ended the interview session because Brown was meeting with NFL teams at the WHAC.

Curtis Samuel: Swiss Army Knife

Stop if you've heard this before: Curtis Samuel is solid at just about everything.

The electric H-back showed that on Thursday afternoon. NFL scouts asked him to do not only receiver drills but also show his salt as a running back. Samuel was completely fine with that, as he said he wanted to show his versatility. He was the lone player to go through running back drills on Thursday.

Curtis Samuel also doing running back drills pic.twitter.com/VlhndrkQyf

— Eric Seger (@EricSeger33) March 23, 2017

Samuel also made a nice grab near the pylon in the throwing portion of his workout, making a nice adjustment to a pass from Pipkin. Per usual, his speed was evident. Samuel caught passes out of the backfield, from the slot and even lined up as the outside receiver. Afterwards, Samuel said right now he feels most like a slot wide receiver but is confident he could transition outside.

Along with Wilson, Samuel also caught punts and kickoffs at the request of NFL brass. Media was not allowed to view that portion of Pro Day.

Dontre Wilson Does Everything He Can To Get Noticed

Wilson did not merit an invitation to the NFL Scouting Combine last month. If you follow him on social media, you'll know that served as motivation.

Like Samuel, Wilson caught passes from everywhere on Thursday but mainly in the slot. He also reeled in a pass in the back of the end zone with one hand.

One-handed catch by Dontre Wilson pic.twitter.com/AoDisKOE5Y

— Doug Lesmerises (@DougLesmerises) March 23, 2017

Reporters were shuffled out before Wilson returned to the indoor field after snagging punts and kicks alongside Samuel. In any event, he looked healthy, didn't drop a pass that was in range for him to catch and showed his speed in and out of cuts. Wilson reportedly ran as fast as a 4.55 in the 40-yard dash.

Malik Hooker Stood Out Despite Not Doing a Single Drill

Cameras and scouts flocked to the star safety even though he is recovering from hip labrum and hernia surgeries. Hooker could potentially be the first Buckeye taken next month and was docked from head to toe in Jordan gear on Thursday, saying he recently signed an apparel contract with the brand.

Malik Hooker said he signed a deal last week with the Jordan brand. Here was his attire today. pic.twitter.com/YvucNRkj0s

— Tim Shoemaker (@TimShoemaker) March 23, 2017

Not a bad recruiting pitch for Meyer and Ohio State, who obviously hosted a number of prospects on Thursday.

Pat Elflein, Marshon Lattimore and Gareon Conley Are Who We Thought They Were

After his workout, Elflein spoke about the importance of consistency being his biggest bargaining chip at Pro Day. He performed well at the Scouting Combine, as did Lattimore and Conley. They needed to do that again on Thursday and did.

Conly and Lattimore — showing no restraint from the hip flexor injury he suffered in Indianapolis — again staked their claim as first round talents. Lattimore is all but a sure bet to go in the first 32 picks but Conley's recent rise up mock drafts is evident.

The latter did drop a few passes, however, but is a smooth athlete and can flip his hips just as well as Lattimore.

Ohio State CBs Gareon Conley and Marshon Lattimore did not run 40s but are doing drills. Both are fast, fluid athletes pic.twitter.com/PGb3a7DAqU

— Eric Seger (@EricSeger33) March 23, 2017

With past players like Michael Thomas, Cardale Jones, Joshua Perry, Braxton Miller, Darron Lee and many others in attendance, Ohio State's next wave of NFL talent is supreme.

New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton is a big fan of the way Ohio State prepares its players for the next level.

A year after drafting wide receiver Michael Thomas and safety Vonn Bell in the second round, Payton returned to Columbus for a glance at Urban Meyer's next crop of players.

"One thing about an Ohio State football player," Payton said, "Man, they come ready. ... You know you're getting somebody who has been battle tested. They're accustomed to winning. They're accustomed to competing.

"... It's not for everybody. It's a special place."

The Saints have two picks (No. 11 and 32) in the first round of next month's NFL Draft.

Nine NFL head coaches, seven general managers and over 115 NFL personnel members gathered Thursday afternoon at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center for Ohio State's annual Pro Day.

Thirteen former Buckeyes took place in interviews and on-field testing. Former safety Malik Hooker was the only one who didn't work out due to offseason surgery.

Some of our biggest takeaways from the day can be found here.

After the workouts were completed, Hooker, cornerback Marshon Lattimore, offensive lineman Pat Elflein, linebacker Raekwon McMillan and wide receiver/running back Curtis Samuel met briefly with reporters to discuss their day and the NFL Draft process. You can check those interviews in the videos posted above.

Below you will find some of the on-field work captured by Eleven Warriors.

Here, cornerbacks Gareon Conley and Marshon Lattimore go through positional drills. Neither ran the 40-yard dash Thursday:

Ohio State CBs Gareon Conley and Marshon Lattimore did not run 40s but are doing drills. Both are fast, fluid athletes pic.twitter.com/PGb3a7DAqU

— Eric Seger (@EricSeger33) March 23, 2017

​

Pair of potential first-round corners Gareon Conley & Marshon Lattimore going through their workouts. pic.twitter.com/gnCfoDRifG

— Tim Shoemaker (@TimShoemaker) March 23, 2017

​

More Conley & Lattimore on-field workouts. pic.twitter.com/XoiospAG1w

— Tim Shoemaker (@TimShoemaker) March 23, 2017

​

Next, former linebacker Raekwon McMillan and offensive lineman Pat Elflein go through their portion of individual drills:

Linebacker Raekwon McMillan up next for on-field workout. pic.twitter.com/iMNjaBqWGE

— Tim Shoemaker (@TimShoemaker) March 23, 2017

​

Pat Elflein going through some drills here as the lone lineman working out. pic.twitter.com/8ftFNEQi4n

— Tim Shoemaker (@TimShoemaker) March 23, 2017

​

Lastly, former wide receivers Noah Brown, Dontre Wilson, Corey Smith and Curtis Samuel ran routes. The quarterback was Tiffin University's Antonio Pipkin, who played at the Senior Bowl this year. Samuel also finished the day doing a few running back drills:

Here is Curtis Samuel, who has run routes out wide and out of the backfield. Quarterback is Antonio Pipkin from Tiffin. pic.twitter.com/cgDz9VqHC2

— Tim Shoemaker (@TimShoemaker) March 23, 2017

​

Dontre Wilson pic.twitter.com/xuCCIWHY7p

— Eric Seger (@EricSeger33) March 23, 2017

​

Red zone routes going on now. In order: Corey Smith, Dontre Wilson, Curtis Samuel & Noah Brown. pic.twitter.com/HGMfEoc5D8

— Tim Shoemaker (@TimShoemaker) March 23, 2017

​

Curtis Samuel also doing running back drills pic.twitter.com/VlhndrkQyf

— Eric Seger (@EricSeger33) March 23, 2017

​

Samuel carried the ball out of the backfield. He played inside and outside wide receiver. He returned punts. Anything short of starting on the offensive line or actually throwing a pass, Samuel did it for the Buckeyes' offense during his junior season.

So it probably shouldn't come as much of a surprise he wants to do the same in the NFL. And at Ohio State's annual pro day Thursday afternoon at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, the Brooklyn native put his well-rounded skill set on full display.

Samuel opted not to run the 40-yard dash — he ran a 4.31 at the NFL Combine last month so there wasn't really a need — but he did go through a series of on-field positional drills at wide receiver, running back and punt returner.

He worked out strictly with the wide receivers at the Combine, so it was important he showcased his full arsenal of skills Thursday.

"As you see today, I did inside receiver, outside receiver and ran some routes out of the backfield and did some running back drills at the end of the receiver stuff and caught some punts," he said afterward. "I did a whole bunch of stuff today and I’m just trying to expand my role wherever teams want me.”

Samuel is a tough projection for many because he doesn't have a natural fit having played both wide receiver and running back at Ohio State. He is one of the few mystery men in this year's NFL Draft.

Samuels' numbers from his junior season only solidify that. He had 865 receiving yards, 771 rushing yards and 15 total touchdowns in 13 games last season for the Buckeyes. Samuel averaged 9.6 yards per touch.

But perhaps Samuel would be best at the next level if the team that drafts him doesn't try to pigeonhole him into one thing. That's a big reason why he wanted to do running back drills in addition to wide receiver drills at Pro Day.

“I played a lot of receiver and did a lot of running plays during the season but I really just wanted to show that I’m capable of doing both," Samuel said. "They used me here at both so I wanted to show at the next level that I could do both.”

Samuel said he's been in contact with "a bunch" of teams recently and that he has several private workouts coming up, though he did not specify which teams those were scheduled to be with.

He figures to be a second-round pick, but it's pretty clear after Thursday's workout what the team that selects Samuel will be getting: a player who can do it all.

"Wherever teams want me," Samuel said, "I look forward to doing that."

Ohio State lost three defensive backs early to the NFL Draft after it went 12-1 and thumped Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl to close out the 2015 season. Twelve months later, the season ended at the same location and the exact same number of stars from the secondary elected to take their talents to the next level.

The New York Giants made Eli Apple the 10th overall selection in the 2016 NFL Draft. Vonn Bell came off the board 51 picks later to New Orleans. Tyvis Powell didn't hear his name called over the course of the draft's seven rounds but signed as a free agent with the Seattle Seahawks. He made the team out of training camp and now plays for his hometown Cleveland Browns.

Now, Malik Hooker is one of if not the highest-rated safeties in this year's class. Marshon Lattimore is in the same boat as a potential game changer at corner. Additionally, Gareon Conley has seen his stock shoot towards the moon following a stellar performance at the NFL Combine last month. Hooker and Lattimore are all but destined to be first rounders. The odds Conley makes it three Buckeyes among the first 32 picks grow with each passing day.

“Gareon Conley, they don’t have him rated as one of the top corners in the draft but he went to the Combine and ran great and everybody’s shocked. That’s something I’ve been seeing since I first came here.”– Malik Hooker

The power of Ohio State, the power of Urban Meyer and the coaching, recruiting and developing prowess of Kerry Coombs and Greg Schiano are on full display.

“It just shows that Coach Meyer and his staff do a great job developing NFL players,” Hooker said on Thursday following Ohio State's Pro Day. “You look in the NFL now with Zeke, Mike Thomas, those are guys who were basically rookie players of the year and stuff like that. It just shows you they do a great job developing players.”

Ezekiel Elliott led the NFL in rushing as a rookie and Thomas posted the best rookie season for a receiver since some guy named Randy Moss. Sean Payton and the Saints drafted Thomas and Bell last season, then saw both become huge parts to that franchise's future in the Big Easy.

They're not the only players from Ohio State to don a Saints uniform and help bring in victory after victory.

“One thing about an Ohio State football player," Payton said, "Man, they come ready. The competitive spirit that they've had ... We've had Malcolm Jenkins, of course, Will Smith, Ted Ginn Jr. is coming in, Michael Thomas, Vonn Bell. You know you're getting somebody who has been battle tested. They're accustomed to winning. They're accustomed to competing.”

Coombs embodies the competition part of things. After all, Lattimore was listed as a co-starter with Denzel Ward for the duration of the 2016 season. Now he could be a top-5 pick in the NFL Draft, exiting the program after just one year as a starter. Hooker did the same — he only has 13 game tapes at safety despite being in Columbus for three years.

Conley is the old head of the trio, a two-year starter who left after his redshirt junior season. He doesn't necessarily have the "wow" plays like Hooker or the pure straight line speed of Lattimore but isn't a slouch in what is an incredibly strong cornerback draft class.

“Gareon Conley, they don’t have him rated as one of the top corners in the draft but he went to the Combine and ran great and everybody’s shocked,” Hooker said. “That’s something I’ve been seeing since I first came here.”

Coombs felt the same way about Conley when he inserted him into the starting lineup before the 2015 season even began. Conley struggled at times in 2014 and yielded to Apple and Doran Grant, then blossomed into a lockdown player. Lattimore and Hooker did too, almost as quickly as they became presumed first round picks.

When asked Thursday about the potential of his defensive backfield teammates all being first rounders, Lattimore couldn't help but smile. Who could blame him?

“Oh, man,” he said. “It'd be a great feeling, just because us, we're so close. For us three and I know Coach Coombs and Coach Schiano are going to be extremely proud and happy.”

Conley didn't speak with reporters at Pro Day, busy with team meetings. But he said at the Combine what Lattimore and Hooker did on Thursday about the next players in line to fill their slots at Ohio State. They have the potential to put together an even better season than what the three of them and Damon Webb did in 2016. Reminder: Hooker, Lattimore and Conley combined for 15 of their team's 21 interceptions and returned four for touchdowns.

“I feel like they got the same opportunity, just at Ohio State,” Lattimore said. “Just be better than us.”

And so the cycle of draft picks from the secondary continues at Ohio State. Only this time, it could carry with it a strong scent of first round flavor.

“I've known Coach [Meyer] for a long time and the one thing is, when you watch a practice, you recognize they are getting better,” Payton said. “It's going to demanding. It's not for everybody — but it's a special place.”

Once upon a time, Mike Leach was an extreme oddity. He would wax poetic about pirates while gameplanning 60 passes per game and then losing and retrieving his hat in Honolulu and then giving dating advice and more dating advice and doing the weather report in Lubbock and then getting fired after allegedly locking Craig James' kid in a barn or something and then spending his days wandering around southern Florida and fishing before booking it to Washington and doing it all over again. Also he's a lawyer.

The point is that Mike Leach holds no secrets from us. Every aspect of his personality has been dissected and scrutinized for years, but because he's a completely bonkers human being, you can get stuff like this...

The full quote (because it's too good not to share) on Mike Leach's distain of dancing ... and a follow up about dodge ball: pic.twitter.com/hVtnl7Idf2

— Chantel Jennings (@ChantelJennings) March 22, 2017

...and not really ever tire of it.

For a long time I viewed Leach as an anachronism, and that's why I liked the dude. While I ironically enjoyed Jim Tressel's fervent desire to rid himself of all human emotion, especially when conducting press conferences, once I became a regular writer for Eleven Warriors I finally understood how difficult he could be to make into a story (until he wasn't, for equally frustrating reasons). Texas Tech beat writers had no such problem, because Leach supplied them with an endless parade of copy and topics and the mythology of a team on the rise rather than a team trying to stay at the top.

But looking across the college football landscape, I saw a lot more Jim Tressels than Mike Leaches. Sure, you'd have the occasional Les Miles here and there, but in sum it seemed like a bunch of guys saying nothing to avoid losing their jobs, or, alternatively, to avoid being asked questions about how they became so awesome. It isn't that I found their recalcitrance unseemly per se, it's more that guys who are more open about who they are as human beings seem more trustworthy as a head coach.

Here's a picture of Bill Belichick.

That's him chilling at Ohio State's pro day, probably in between hanging out with his bro Urban Meyer and evaluating Ohio State players for both their ability to command small contracts while also making the Pro Bowl every other year, somehow.

Noted control freaks Urban Meyer and BIll Belichick are best buds, naturally:

When Meyer was in the early days of his time at Florida, the phone rang and Belichick was on the other end. Meyer, not believing it, said, “Yeah, this is Pete Rose.” Once Meyer realized he actually was talking to the three-time Super Bowl winning head coach, the two coordinated a visit to discuss football philosophy.

Belichick wanted to talk X’s and O’s with Meyer, who was the author of a still foreign and mysterious offense at the time. Meyer also didn’t own a national championship, so he picked Belichick’s brain on how to create a winning culture through a strong locker room. Four years later, Meyer owned two national titles.

Maybe not surprising is that Belichick's only closer friend in college football is possibly Nick Saban, and the three of them make up a group of possibly the most successful head coaches in any sport ever. They are all meticulous planners, slaves to the idea that you can and must control every aspect of your program at all times, including the branding and message that is being presented by the most visible person related to said program.

Still, Meyer and Belichick and Saban are outliers. They've been able to prove their bonafides over the course of a decade or more, and can pretty much do whatever the hell they want. If Meyer wants to blow off a media obligation in favor of staring angrily at a 2019 recruiting board, no one is going to say boo about it.

But part of me wonders how desireable that kind of stoicism is anymore, at least for coaches just starting out in their careers. When Urban Meyer got his first head coaching job in the early 2000s, the Earle Bruce/Woody Hayes model of coaching was still untouched by #teens on social media. As it's turned out, larger-than-life figures like Spurrier were ahead of the game, and now we're entering the era of Jim Harbaugh.

Harbaugh has done two things pretty well in his first few years as Michigan's head coach; one, he's racked up a lot of victories in a relatively short time, and two, he's been reliably weird and open about his weirdness.

Take a good look around
And if you're looking down
Put a little love in your heart

— Coach Harbaugh (@CoachJim4UM) December 25, 2016

And it works, because Harbaugh is a crazy person who is a genuine nutcase that chugs milk and cosplays as Woody Hayes. That weirdness is part of the Jim Harbaugh package, and people love it. Remember that a decade ago Rich Rodriguez was considered somehow too exotic for the blue-hairs Up North. Now, any coach that follows Harbaugh will have not just an expectation of success, but an expectation of a personality that is, at least on the face of it, open and accessible to the public.

That's not to imply that Harbaugh is secretive in his own way, and none of this is to impugn Urban Meyer. He's an incredible coach that has elevated Ohio State's profile even beyond what Jim Tressel could ever have dreamed. But what we know about his thoughts about life, love, or pirates is mostly confined to really random asides about Sister Hazel and the occasional photobomb of a friend on a boat in Florida.

That kind of fog around his life works for Meyer, and most college football coaches of his generation. But for the coaches who come next, who are trying to make an impact and make a name for themselves, the template isn't going to be Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler, it's going to be guys like Mike Leach, Steve Spurrier, and yeah, Jim Harbaugh.

It's a kind of calculated openness that allows for the coach to at least appear human to the media that cover them, while also giving them the cover they need to, say, not release a depth chart the week before a big game. Sure that sucks for fans, but holy crap did you see what coach put on Twitter last night?

Football has always had rockstar coaches that are notable for their personalities just as much as their coaching prowess, but now that's just as important a marketing strategy as selling kids on their ability to make the NFL or win championships. And while Meyer has those last two items on lockdown, maybe he should consider working harder on the first one.

Ohio State cornerbacks coach Kerry Combs is a man with a very specific set of skills, namely sending players to the NFL.

Coombs caught up with one past and two future first-round draft picks on Thursday during Ohio State's pro day: New York Giants cornerback Eli Apple and 2017 draftees Gareon Conley and Marshon Lattimore.

3 pretty good corners at the Woody for Pro Day today! #lovemyguys#cantwaittoseethemallatthenextlevel! #firstrounderseveryone! #BIA#POUpic.twitter.com/oI451BF2P7

— Kerry Coombs (@OsuCoachCoombs) March 23, 2017

Considering past cornerbacks like Bradley Roby (No. 31 overall pick of the 2014) and Doran Grant (No. 121 in 2015) aren't pictured, it's easy to see why the Buckeyes can pry the likes of five-star freshman cornerback Jeffrey Okudah out of Texas.

As Urban Meyer likes to say, it's testimony over theory.

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When the Buckeyes take on top-seeded Notre Dame in the Sweet 16 on Friday evening, it will be arguably the biggest game Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff has ever coached.

Now in his fourth season in Columbus, McGuff faces a top-seeded opponent led by a legendary head coach in a do-or-die game with a chance to bring Ohio State its first Elite Eight since 1993.

A win would be undoubtedly huge for the young head coach, but it would be bittersweet all the same, as it would come against a program close to his heart.

McGuff began his coaching career at Miami University where he served as an assistant under head coach Lisa Bradley for two years, after which he was offered a position at Notre Dame — an event he says changed his life.

At Notre Dame, McGuff was an assistant under legendary head coach Muffet McGraw where he helped the Irish to two Final Four appearances and the program's first national title. McGuff said of all the things he learned and observed under McGraw, it was her ability to run a program that stood out to him.

“It’s really a shame because I want to be cheering them on and, obviously, I’m not going to be cheering them on.”– Muffet McGraw

"She does that as well as anyone in the country," McGuff said. "Just the organization and the structure as far as how things work, how to treat people well and what you get in return. She was great to work for and had high expectations, which is an environment that I wanted to work in, but also allowed her assistants to do their jobs and to really impact the program."

McGuff stayed at Notre Dame for six years until he took his first head coaching job at Xavier in 2002. He then took a job at Washington in 2011 before arriving in Columbus in 2013.

Notre Dame was the launching pad of McGuff's coaching career. But the ties to the school are a little deeper and more personal than that; it is also where he met his wife, Letitia.

Letitia Bowen was a four-year starter at Notre Dame from 1991-95 and was one of the best to ever play for the Irish. She ranks second on the school's career rebounding and rebound average lists, eighth in career blocks, and 13th in all-time scoring. She returned to Notre Dame as part of the coaching staff in 1999, where she stayed for six years and met McGuff.

McGuff is confident his team has his wife's support when the ball is tipped at 7 p.m. on Friday, even if it means she has to root against her alma mater.

“She’ll be pulling for us," McGuff said with a laugh. "Obviously, that program means a lot to her as well but she’ll certainly be pulling for us. Fair question, though.”

Once a mentor to both Kevin and Letitia, McGraw is now a close friend of the McGuff family and in any other situation would be cheering hard for the Buckeyes.

“I hate to have to play against one of my assistants or one of my friends," McGraw said in a Notre Dame release. "It’s hard with Letitia there and all their kids. It’s really a shame because I want to be cheering them on and, obviously, I’m not going to be cheering them on.”

Both coaches will be fighting hard for an Elite Eight bid on Friday night, but when the final buzzer sounds, the loser will be a little less disheartened and the winner a little less jubilant.

"It’s tough to go against people you care about," McGuff said. "But it’ll be an exciting game and a great opportunity for us.”

That’s what was inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center on Thursday afternoon for Ohio State’s annual pro day, where 13 former Buckeyes worked out and met with NFL brass with the hopes of leaving a lasting impression.

Bill Belichick, he of five Super Bowl rings, walked around and took in the scenes. He spent a large portion of time chatting with Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer. Mike Tomlin, Sean Payton and John Harbaugh were other Super Bowl winning coaches in attendance.

And if big-name head coaches don’t move the needle for you, perhaps seeing young NFL stars like wide receiver Michael Thomas, cornerback Eli Apple and linebacker Darron Lee will. All three — and more former Buckeye greats — also took in the action.

Now, imagine being a high school prospect seeing that.

This is Ohio State Pro Day, and it’s become one of Meyer’s greatest recruiting tools.

“For us, it’s all recruiting,” Meyer said at last year’s pro day. “We’ve done our jobs. I told our coaches that this is not about the NFL. We’ve done our job which is recruit them, develop them and then turn them over.

“And as you probably saw on social media, this was all over the place. We want to get it out.”

While Meyer made those comments a year ago — he did not speak to reporters at this year’s pro day — they still ring true now. Thursday may not have been quite the spectacle it was in 2016— how could it be? — but it still felt like a big-time event that was rather hard to miss.

The Buckeyes’ social media team, which has expanded immensely the last two years, was all over the event posting videos, graphics and more throughout the day. Even if you were a recruit who didn’t make it to the event, it felt like you were there.

122 @NFL personnel
79 media members
32 #NFL teams
13 participants
9 head coaches
6 general managers#OSUProDay was pic.twitter.com/6Jbs3kPtOB

— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) March 23, 2017

Since Meyer’s arrival in Columbus, Ohio State turned into somewhat of an NFL factory. Over the last three years, 23 former Buckeyes were selected in the NFL Draft. Of those 23, seven were first-round picks. Ohio State had 12 players drafted last season alone — five of which were in the first round.

New Buckeyes quarterbacks coach Ryan Day, who spent the last two seasons working in the NFL, said he’s not surprised at the talent being produced now that he is around the program every day. Day was asked recently how close Ohio State was to being an NFL team.

“Real close,” Day said. “First off, the guys who are running around the field are like NFL players. From the skill guys to the guys up front, the guys here have done an unbelievable job recruiting. The talent level here is just like a lot of NFL teams and that’s what’s most impressive when you get out here for the first three days.”

The Ohio State-to-the-NFL train doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon, either.

Malik Hooker, Marshon Lattimore and Gareon Conley are all projected first-round picks next month while Raekwon McMillan, Curtis Samuel, Pat Elflein and Noah Brown all will almost certainly hear their names called at some point in the Draft.

Who knows what players will be working out at next year’s pro day in Columbus. All that’s for certain is that there will be one and that it will be quite the event.

Because that’s what Ohio State Pro Day has become. And you better believe Meyer and Co. will be using it to try and recruit some players who might be participating one day in the near future.