\n Welcome to the Skull Session. <\/p>\n
\n\tEmphasis on the\u00a0& Counting\u00a0in this post:\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\t50 Buckeyes & Counting Drafted in the Ryan Day era \t\u2014 Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) April 22, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tHave a good Thursday.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0IMPERSONATE YOUR COACH.\u00a0Ohio State’s players impersonated their coaches after one of the team’s recent practices. They were too good.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tThese impersonations are hilarious pic.twitter.com\/mEhSUaDcIA<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 Eleven Warriors (@11W) April 22, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tAll of the impersonations were hilarious, but the ones of OG Walt take the cake for me.\u00a0Those were hilarious!\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0DRAFT WEEK=SILLY SEASON. When it\u2019s NFL draft week, everyone loses their minds!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n \n\tLike this defensive back coach, who told The Athletic\u2019s Bruce Feldman<\/a> that he would take former Purdue and Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman over Caleb Downs. What\u2019s even worse is that another defensive back coach agreed.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\t\u201cI would take Thieneman over Downs,\u201d said DB coach No. 2. \u201cThieneman is one of the more versatile safeties I\u2019ve seen come out in the last few years. I feel good about him in the deep part of the field, about him in and around the box and about him in coverage, especially from a safeties standpoint. I loved the movement skills from him at the combine. He looked really fluid and loose. There\u2019s a lot to like with him.\u201d\n\t<\/p>\n \n\t\tDB coach No. 1 said it wouldn\u2019t surprise him if some team took Thieneman ahead of Downs because he thinks the Oregon DB is that good.\n\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\u201cI think Dillon Thieneman is pretty special,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s ready right now. I think he\u2019s the best tackler I\u2019ve seen in years, but he\u2019s also got the speed and flexibility to turn and run. I think he has first- and second-level instincts and can fit runs like a linebacker, but he can run like the wind in the back end.\u201d\n\t<\/p>\n \n\tThese coaches are not serious people<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \n\tLuckily, there are still some people in the football world with some sense.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\t\u201cThere\u2019s been a recurring trend that I keep hearing with Thieneman pushing Downs. I do not see that,\u201d said DB coach No. 3. \u201cI think coaches are nervous because they haven\u2019t seen him cover or in the deep part of the field. This guy sat down at his formal interview and installed his defense, and then talked about how he would play it in our defense. He knew the rules of our defense before he came into the meeting. Nobody\u2019s doing that. There\u2019s a premium on intelligence at the safety position in the NFL, more so than people not in the NFL understand. And the way the game is going with limited practices and limited practice reps, that premium is only becoming more valuable. Defensive coaches are asking players to do more. Downs is invaluable. And he\u2019s an elite tackler.\n\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\u201cHis ability to react to what he sees in the deep part of the field, although it\u2019s sparing on this year\u2019s tape, is still really strong. I think he\u2019s a top-10 pick. I have no concerns about him covering. If you\u2019re playing him at nickel, then yeah, I\u2019d be worried about him covering. But this is a safety. He\u2019s gonna take the fourth hardest matchup. When is the safety covering the second-hardest guy to cover? If that\u2019s your defense, then that\u2019s a bad defense.\u201d\n\t<\/p>\n \n\tCoaches who spoke about Arvell Reese were also of sound mind.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tIn a nutshell: The 6-4, 241-pound Reese, the No. 1 overall prospect on Dane Brugler\u2019s top 100, was preferred by three of the four defensive line coaches I spoke to.\n\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\u201cHe is the best of the bunch,\u201d said DL coach No. 3. \u201cHe has everything: the violence, the power, the strike, the length, the bend, the acceleration. His pro day was so impressive. He\u2019s the best defensive player for sure. He\u2019s the best edge defender I\u2019ve seen in a few years. I\u2019m not sure about pure pass rush, but edge defender, yes.\u201d\n\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\u201cI think he\u2019s the best,\u201d said DL coach No. 1, who thinks Reese is \u201ca tad more athletic\u201d than Bailey. \u201cHe\u2019s pretty dynamic, but I\u2019d just put him at one position and let him be. Learn it. Watch his film; it\u2019s a lot of off-ball. When you come into the league, you gotta have clean eyes right away.\u201d\n\t<\/p>\n \n\t\tReese, who ran a 4.46 40 at the NFL Scouting Combine, was a one-year starter for Ohio State and didn\u2019t put up eye-popping stats (6.5 sacks in 2025), but his film had college and pro coaches raving.\n\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\u201cHe\u2019s just so raw,\u201d said DL coach No. 4. \u201cHe has everything. He has the burst, the bend and the power. But everything is so new to him. You have to explain to him that this is what you work and why you\u2019re working it. But once you tell him why or the mistake that he made, he\u2019s not going to make it again.\u201d\n\t<\/p>\n \n\tThanks be to these coaches, who helped keep me from turning into the Joker.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0\u201cTHE BEST PLAYER ON THAT FIELD.\u201d This week, I learned Caleb Downs\u2019 uncle (on his mother\u2019s side) is Dr\u00e9 Bly, a two-time Pro Bowler who won a Super Bowl with the St. Louis Rams in 1999 (he was teammates with Orlando Pace and Lorenzo Styles Sr.!), made another Super Bowl appearance in 2001 and finished his 11-year career with 484 tackles, five sacks, 20 forced fumbles, nine fumble recoveries, 43 interceptions and eight total touchdowns.\n<\/p>\n \n\tGo Long\u2019s Tyler Dunne<\/a> interviewed Bly before the NFL draft to learn what makes Downs special.\n<\/p>\n \n\tBly\u2019s answer?\n<\/p>\n \n\tA lot.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHe is (special). He is,\u201d Bly said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t work out. People are questioning his speed. When you play as well as he played, you don\u2019t need to work out. His film represents what he is. He\u2019s done everything you can imagine as a college football player. The same way Travis Hunter doesn\u2019t need to work out, Caleb Downs doesn\u2019t need to work out. And so again, if you know what you\u2019re looking for when you evaluate tape, then if you go back and evaluate all of his tapes since he started playing football, you\u2019ll see the same human being on the football field. He\u2019s the best player on that field. And so you see correctly. That\u2019s who he is.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n\tLater, Bly said, \u201cIf you watch and dissect how fast he played on the football field, why do you need him to work out? He\u2019s the real deal, man. He\u2019s everything that people imagine. He\u2019s more athletic than any other defensive player in the game. His instincts, his awareness, his smarts. They\u2019re going to get every bit of the player they\u2019re supposed to get when they draft him as a top 10 player. And that\u2019s a multiple Pro Bowl type of player that has the ability to be a Hall of Fame player. I don\u2019t expect anything less or anything different coming out of Caleb.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tAs if Bly hadn\u2019t endorsed Downs enough, he also said this \u2014 and remember this is coming from a Super Bowl champion, one-time All-Pro and two-time Pro Bowler in the NFL, as well as a two-time All-American at North Carolina.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cHe surpassed everything that I\u2019ve done, and I\u2019m in the College Football Hall of Fame. And he\u2019ll one day be in the College Football Hall of Fame. He won a Thorpe Award. I went 0-for-2 with the Thorpe. I was a finalist twice. Didn\u2019t win that. He won the national championship. He won a state championship in high school. So this guy has always won. He\u2019s always been the best player on the field on a really, really good team. And so now they\u2019re going to get one hell of a ball player once you hear his name called.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tWhat I shared is, like, a third of what Bly had to share about his nephew. He also called Downs \u201cthe complete package,\u201d compared him to Brian Dawkins and Ed Reed and said Downs \u201ceats and breathes and sleeps football.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tDowns is one of a kind, man.\n<\/p>\n \n\tI will miss him at Ohio State, but I cannot wait to see what he becomes at the next level.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0MORE THAN A GAME. Arvell Reese will hear his name called early at the NFL draft on Thursday, but his path to that moment has never been just about football.\n<\/p>\n \n\tEight years ago, Reese\u2019s life nearly changed forever when his mother, Maeko Walker, suffered a stroke during one of his brother\u2019s games.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cDoctors told my family I wasn\u2019t going to make it,\u201d Walker told Andscape’s Branson Wright<\/a>.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\tReese, then in middle school, suddenly didn\u2019t care about the sport he loved.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI didn\u2019t want to play football anymore,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n \n\tWalker survived, but the road back wasn\u2019t easy \u2014 and neither was Reese\u2019s.\n<\/p>\n \n\tLong before Reese became a standout linebacker at Ohio State, his mother had built football into something bigger than a game. With Reese\u2019s father incarcerated and tragedy striking the family early, she made it her mission to keep her sons \u2014 and plenty of other kids \u2014 surrounded by structure. She organized rides, cooked meals, checked grades and did whatever it took to keep players on the field and out of trouble.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI looked at all of them like they were my sons,\u201d Walker said.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n\tThat structure wavered as she recovered from her stroke, and Reese briefly lost his way. When he transferred to Glenville, head coach Ted Ginn Sr. didn\u2019t start with football \u2014 he started with accountability. Reese arrived with a GPA below 1.0 and a lot of uncertainty about his future.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cNo one is coming on a white horse to save you,\u201d Ginn told him. \u201cYou have to take responsibility for your life.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tReese bought in. The grades improved. The production followed. He became a two-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree at Ohio State, earned All-American honors and now projects as a potential top-five pick.\n<\/p>\n \n\tBut Reese knows the most important part of his story happened long before draft night.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for my mother and Coach Ginn, I don\u2019t know where I\u2019d be,\u201d Reese said. \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for Ginn, I wouldn\u2019t have gone to college. I owe him everything.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tReese\u2019s journey to the NFL is a wonderful reminder that talent can open doors \u2014 but it\u2019s the people who provide accountability, belief and structure that ultimately determine how far someone walks through them.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0SONG OF THE DAY.\u00a0“Daisies” – Justin Bieber, live at Coachella.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0CUT TO THE CHASE.\u00a0Line drive gets lodged in Mariners pitcher Logan Gilbert\u2019s jersey<\/a>…\u00a0How two\u00a0men claimed an absurd record by driving an old 3-wheel car the length of Africa<\/a>…\u00a0Astronomers measure the mind-blowing power and speed of black hole jets for the first time<\/a>…\u00a0Ohio’s food traditions shaped by immigrant history<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n
#NFLDraft<\/a> | #DevelopedHere<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/QY8ZFsYVIH<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n