Meyer and his players have known for a while that All-America defensive end Joey Bosa, H-backs Jalin Marshall and Dontre Wilson and receiver Corey Smith would miss the opener after violating athletic department policy.
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It certainly isn’t a positive development, especially since the Buckeyes lone loss last season came to the same Virginia Tech team they face in the opener.
ESPN’s Joe Schad reported that the suspensions were due to “marijuana and academics”.
The biggest loss of them all is Bosa who is arguably the top defensive player in the country and perhaps even the best player who could be the No. 1 pick in the 2016 NFL Draft.
Ohio State coach Urban Meyer didn’t let four suspensions alter his mood at Big Ten Media Days on Thursday. The Big Ten Network will stream the address live online, but a television subscription is required.
Ohio State rolled to the East Division title last season, destroyed West Division champion Wisconsin 59-0 in the league title game and then rolled over Alabama and Oregon to win the first-ever College Football Playoff.
Less than an hour before the suspensions were announced, Ohio State was voted the No. 1 team in the preseason USA Today Coaches Poll for the first time since 2006.
“None of the teams are the same as they were last year”, UW senior safety Michael Caputo cautioned during the Big Ten preseason meetings. “He’s got an incredible first step”. Now we have to get them ready to go play. The game was also notable for being the first career start for JT Barrett, who will once again be competing for the Buckeye’s starting quarterback job. Everyone deals with stuff.
And of course, Meyer said nothing informative.
According to The Columbus Dispatch, when Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith was asked to clarify what the violations were, he responded: “I’m not going to get into that”.
Last year’s sculptures were butter versions of popular Ohio symbols, including a tomato, a carnation, a cardinal, a buckeye tree, a white-tailed deer and a papaw. “I don’t necessarily want to say duplicate because when I think of that I think of an exact copy, and you just can do that with different chemistry”. But there’s also going to be a lot of statistical data that we chart and watch very closely.
Following the game at Virginia Tech, Ohio State returns home to play the rest of its non-conference schedule for 2015.
“When you’re Ohio State or some of these other big time programs stuff becomes a major deal and this is”, he said.
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“Some guys are good at self-motivation, so some guys needs something”, said Washington. He looks for a few key “indicators”, he said, and likes what he sees. Instead, they played in the Sugar Bowl against Texas A&M. They have enough talent for two top-10 teams, the result of a string of jaw-dropping recruiting that has, in part, delivered three potential Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks to the roster, although one, Braxton Miller, is preparing to switch to receiver.
