\t\u2014 Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) May 14, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tEverything about this rollout has been chef\u2019s kiss<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n \n\tHave a good Friday.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0\u201cIT\u2019S TRADITION THERE.\u201d Arvell Reese\u2019s favorite Ohio State memory was one of his first.\n<\/p>\n \n\tIn behind-the-scenes footage of Reese\u2019s pre-draft interview with the New York Giants \u2014 the team that selected him No. 5 overall in the 2026 NFL draft \u2014 the franchise asked him to share the highlight of his college career.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cLosing my black stripe,\u201d Reese answered. \u201cIt\u2019s a tradition there. That\u2019s when you get fully accepted into the team, like earn your way on the team.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tBefore draft night, it starts with the combine interviews pic.twitter.com\/jVA4Guuqpn<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 New York Giants (@Giants) May 11, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tReese told the Giants he arrived on campus in the summer after graduating from Glenville High School. His first practice with the Buckeyes was on Aug. 2. He lost his black stripe on Aug. 18.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThat wasn\u2019t long,\u201d Giants coach John [REDACTED] said. \u201cWhat\u2019d you do?\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cJust playing hard and fast,\u201d Reese replied.\n<\/p>\n \n\tWhen I spoke with Reese at Ohio State\u2019s pro day, he said that\u2019s exactly how he wants to play at the next level.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cBeing violent. Think violently,\u201d Reese said. \u201cYou just got to do it. That\u2019s just what will be on my mind. Just be physical. I think everything that\u2019s happened at Ohio State has prepared me for this moment.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tTranslation: Developed Here.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0THIS HONEY BADGER CARES. Honey badgers usually don\u2019t care <\/a>\u2014 but this one does.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThis week, former Super Bowl champion and three-time NFL All-Pro Tyrann Mathieu adamantly picked Caleb Downs to win NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year after his first season playing for Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cMy take is Caleb Downs,\u201d Mathieu said on his In the Bayou podcast. \u201cThis dude\u2019s got \u2014 that\u2019s everyone\u2019s dream. That was Patrick Peterson\u2019s dream. I remember talking to Pat, and he\u2019d be like, \u2018Whoa, dawg, if I could just go play for Jerry, bro.\u2019 Could you imagine the Honey Badger in Jerry World? You know what I\u2019m saying? I mean, every game is primetime. Rarely are you playing at 12; all your kickoffs is at 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 (p.m.). Like, people watching you. So yeah, I think Caleb\u2019s got a great shot to have 100 tackles, and to get three sacks and three interceptions. I think that\u2019s sort of my expectations for him.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n\tMathieu said Downs has the talent that Jones will love. He thinks the longtime Cowboys owner will quickly put the former Ohio State safety on a pedestal.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cJerry is gonna roll out the red carpet for him. Jerry is gonna put him in a nice jersey number. Son of a b\u2013 is gonna have f\u2013 memorabilia, toys, socks. He gonna roll out the red carpet for him. He\u2019s gonna market him the right way, I should say that. All he gotta do is f\u2013 show up, be himself and let Jerry do the work. But I think Caleb Downs, that\u2019s my pick to be Defensive Rookie of the Year.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tDowns needs a nickname to match the Honey Badger\u2019s aura. He was a Silver Bullet; now he\u2019s a Cowboy. Maybe something that blends both. How about The Ranger? I don\u2019t know how I feel about it, but I like it better than the Emerald City Route Artist<\/a>!\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0USA! USA! USA! Incoming Ohio State freshman Anthony Thompson will have the opportunity to represent the United States at the FIBA U18 Men\u2019s AmeriCup<\/a> tournament.\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe No. 8 overall prospect in the 2026 class, Thompson is one of 35 players scheduled to participate in the USA Basketball Men\u2019s U18 National Team training camp beginning May 21 in Colorado Springs. The 6-foot-8, 205-pound forward is one of 18 members of the 2026 class invited to attend the event.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\tB1G opponents make for big moments.<\/p>\n The Big Ten opponents for our 2026-2027 campaign #GoBucks<\/a> | #FightToTheEnd<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/zwLkSs3jtX<\/a>\n\t<\/p>\n \t\u2014 Ohio State Hoops (@OhioStateHoops) May 12, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tThis May marks the third time Thompson has participated in a Team USA camp. He also attended two junior national team minicamps in 2025, one in April and another in October.\n<\/p>\n \n\tWhen Thompson arrives in Columbus, he will be Ohio State\u2019s highest-rated recruit since Jared Sullinger in 2010 and the program\u2019s first five-star prospect since D\u2019Angelo Russell in 2014. He is also the Buckeyes\u2019 first McDonald\u2019s All-American since Russell.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0\u201cIT\u2019S BEEN A BLAST.\u201d Generations of Buckeye fans have grown up hearing Paul Keels and Jim Lachey call Ohio State football games. During the latest 12th Warrior Happy Hour<\/a>, I asked Lachey to reflect on some of the biggest moments he\u2019s witnessed \u2014 and narrated \u2014 over the last 29 years as the program\u2019s radio color commentator.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cMy first year in \u201997 was pretty cool. Just the first game against Wyoming, I\u2019m like, \u2018Wow, this is pretty fun.\u2019 We ended up winning that game and won several games that year,\u201d Lachey said.\n<\/p>\n \n\tLachey skipped a couple of years \u2014 a couple of 12th Warriors thanked him for passing over 1998 \u2014 and returned for Ohio State\u2019s national championship season in 2002.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cYou get to 2002 and Coach Tressel was 7-5 his first year, and we\u2019re kind of kidding with him, like, \u2018Hey man, that\u2019s probably not gonna be good enough here at Ohio State.\u2019 Then the next year, he went 14-0 and won it all. But to see the intensity of that (2002 national title game) \u2014 Miami, a great team, 34 straight wins, several pro prospects who ended up being great pro football players on that team,\u201d Lachey said.\u00a0\u201cTo see the way our defense went out there and dominated \u2014 you know, Mike Doss making plays, Matt Wilhelm all over the field, Darrion Scott and Will Smith getting pressure on the quarterback.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cMaurice Clarett taking the ball from Sean Taylor after that interception was probably one of the greatest individual-effort plays that I\u2019ve ever seen, where it\u2019s going one way and, boom, a second later, we\u2019ve got the ball back. You\u2019re like, \u2018Whoo, dodged a bullet there.\u2019 And then double overtime, I mean, they get it 1st-and-goal at the 4-yard line. Are you kidding me? With all that talent and that big offensive line, it comes down to a fourth down.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tLachey said he knew Ohio State had Miami beat before the Hurricanes snapped the ball.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cA lot of times I\u2019m looking at offensive linemen\u2019s stances, and I\u2019m like, \u2018There\u2019s no way that guard will get to (Cie Grant) in a dual read. There\u2019s no way.\u2019 He is going to come off the corner,\u201d Lachey said. \u201cI\u2019m up there screaming, \u2018You\u2019re going to get this!\u2019 And if Cie had gotten (Ken Dorsey) the first time, there would have only been one scream, but they kept dodging him with Dorsey pulling out, and it ends up being incomplete.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n\tLachey called it \u201cincredible\u201d to see Ohio State win another national championship that year. He tried hard to win one as a player but fell short. He thought the Buckeyes had the talent to win one in the \u201990s but never quite lived up to expectations.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt\u2019s just a great feeling as a Buckeye to see the Buckeyes win it all \u2014 and the way they did that year,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n \n\tLachey said Ohio State\u2019s 2014 title was also among his favorite memories.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIn 2014, you suffer a tough loss to Virginia Tech, like, \u2018God, I can\u2019t believe we lost that\u2019 \u2026 and then to see how that team turned. You know, you lose (Braxton Miller), you lose J.T. (Barrett), and you go into the Big Ten championship with Cardale Jones,\u201d he said. \u201cBut boom, waxes Wisconsin and gets a chance to play Alabama in New Orleans \u2026 and then dominates Oregon. It was pretty cool to get the second national championship.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tThe 2024 title, too.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAfter losing that final regular-season game against Michigan, they were playing Tennessee at home, and you see all the orange in the stadium, you\u2019re thinking, \u2018Oh, man, the Buckeye faithful has given up on us.\u2019 And they come out, and before you know it, it\u2019s 21-0 and that game\u2019s over,\u201d Lachey said. \u201cAnd then you go to the Rose Bowl and play against Oregon, who we lost a close game to out there. And to see the domination of that game, up 34-0 in the second quarter, you\u2019re like, \u2018What? They\u2019re unstoppable.\u2019\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cAnd then you get a chance to play Texas and then Notre Dame. It was kind of what it\u2019s all about. To win those types of games. To see Jack (Sawyer) and the defense step up (in the Cotton Bowl) \u2026 and then Notre Dame, I mean dominating in that game after they had what seemed like about a nine- or 10-minute drive to start the game. Then Ohio State gets the ball back and has a nice lead during the first half. We kind of let them back in the ball game, and it ends up being close, but the next thing you know, it\u2019s 3rd-and-11 and you see a great play down the sideline, and Jeremiah (Smith) hauls it in. And you end up kicking the field goal, you make the game a two-score game and get another national championship.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tOh, and the wins over That Team Up North have been great, too.\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cThe Big Ten championships, beating Michigan \u2014 I\u2019ve been involved in a lot of those games,\u201d Lachey said, \u201cbut to see this team win three national championships and compete for three more \u2026 it\u2019s been a great run. Other guys in the Big Ten that do this across the country always kind of get jealous of Paul (Keels) and me. We\u2019ve gotten to call all these national championship games. That\u2019s been abundant. We don\u2019t take that for granted. It\u2019s not easy to get there. There are some teams that never get there. We\u2019ve had the opportunity to do it six times, so it\u2019s been a blast.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n\tThose are some remarkable moments called by remarkable men in Keels and Lachey. They\u2019ve been a duo for 29 years \u2014 three years longer than I\u2019ve been alive \u2014 so I\u2019ve never known another voice calling Ohio State football on the radio.\n<\/p>\n \n\tFor nearly three decades, they\u2019ve narrated some of the biggest moments in program history with passion, authenticity and an unmistakable love for the Buckeyes. I thank them for their 29 years of service to Ohio State football, and I look forward to the next 29.\n<\/p>\n \t \n\t\u00a0NEW DUBCAST.\u00a0The final Eleven Dubcast of the week \u2014 and of George Eisner’s over\u00a0250 episodes hosting the show since 2023 \u2014 welcomes back Dan Hope to discuss Ryan Day wanting multi-year commitments from incoming Ohio State players and movie roles beginning to surface in NIL deals.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0SONG OF THE DAY.\u00a0“Out of the Blue” – The Figs.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \n\t\u00a0CUT TO THE CHASE.\u00a0Worthington school teacher finishes second as “Jeopardy!” champion rolls on<\/a>…\u00a0The Origins of Alcohol as a Muse<\/a>…\u00a0Lawyers for Elon Musk and OpenAI make their final case in a trial that could shape AI\u2019s future<\/a>…\u00a0Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau lead PGA Championship live cut tracker<\/a>…\u00a0When bots write comedy, the joke\u2019s on us<\/a>…\u00a0Papa Johns to bottle, sell iconic garlic sauce in stores nationwide<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/12w-904-100-a.jpg\"\/)
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