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Yeah, that's pretty ballsy. I'm guessing he expects a quick turn around after pickinng up John Chavis.

I love you like a fat kid loves cake.

The difference was that he did it from the Quarterback position, which, in many cases, means that he does not have 1 guy that is responsible for coverage in a man scheme. Being able to make plays when no one has direct coverage responsibilities is much different than making plays against a guy with those responsibilities. He will be accounted for just like every other offensive player in the offense, which was never the case when he was lining up at QB.

As a QB, you often times may only need to make 1 guy miss. Braxton clearly was capable of doing that. But lining up an Hback or Receiver means hes going to need to make at least 2 guys miss.

It's not like he's going to be playing WR. He's not going to be counted on to run crisp routes off the route tree. They're going to line him up in the slot. They're going to line him up in the backfield. Hell, they'll probably have him run some read option wildcat stuff. Maybe not all that stuff right from the get-go, but it's what I expect to see throughout the year. He doesn't need to turn into a WR. They're going to run jet sweeps, reverses, options, handoffs, bubble screens, maybe some quick slants. He doesn't need to perfect his fade route or anything...that's not how he's going to be used. But if anyone wants to devalue how electric he is with the ball in his hands both in space and in a crowd, they should do themselves a favor and go back and watch some of what he could do as a runningback playing quarterback.

Still, not from our boys

You're absolutely correct, that's all it is. And the Big Ten Network hasn't really made any bones about that. I've seen from sources that this isn't about anything juicy or about money so much as it is branding (which indirectly is money). Ohio State actually has all final decision rights as to what gets aired, so of course it's all going to be pretty tame stuff.

I wouldn't gameplan my defense to specifically account for him at this point either, because it's just a flat out unknown if he'll adjust to the new position and the intricacies of it or not. It could be a total flop flat on its face. Or if could start turning into big plays. If it turns into big plays, you adjust. But I think BF should take his chances and focus his efforts on stopping Zeke...especially if Cardale is the QB.

Early chatter (that's way too early to tell) is it's Javin DeLaurier, a 4 star big man from Charlottesville. I'd be thrilled if we landed Kwe Parker instead....but I may be in the minority on that one.

Edit: Looks like things have changed with DeLaurier since I last checked and he's now pretty heavily favored to go to Texas. So scratch that. I have no idea at this point.

Don't forget how electric Miller is with the ball in his hands. I wouldn't just compare him to Samuel based on speed...Miller is one of the most dynamically shifty and elusive runners I've ever seen (seriously). Left my jaw on the ground many times in 3 years with some of the Barry Sanders stuff he used to do. Remains to be seen if his transition to WR will be effective, but (and especially with JT at QB if he wins the job) they'll be running screens, sweeps and probably option plays to Braxton. The offense is more straightforward with Cardale in that it becomes deep passing and straight ahead running more than ball distribution and quick hitters in the pass and option run game...that's when I see Braxton diminished more, is when they're running the Cardale version of the offense.

From an Ohio State perspective, I think it's going to be very dependent on who's playing QB for OSU. They're pretty different offensive strategies when JT is on the field vs Cardale one the field...

With JT the offense is looking for fast tempo, distributing the ball all over the field in more of an Urban Meyer style offense. Using the width of the field and using quick hitters. A lot more option running than with Cardale, a lot more screens, quick slants, etc. This is where I see them running screens, jet sweeps, etc for Miller and Zeke not having quite as much of an effect on the game. In this type of offense, we saw it steamroll teams at times but then we saw it stagnate and waste possessions at times when they'd get a tad too cute and try to distribute the ball to everyone all over the field and out-think themselves. Sometimes you'd beg for them to just go straightforward and bludgeon the other team.

With Cardale at QB, they did become more of that straightforward offense. It's deep ball threat and power run and they feed off of each other. I see this minimizing Braxton's impact, but maximizing Zeke's impact. The threat of Cardale's arm opens the run game for Zeke and the more Zeke gets going the more it opens the deep ball by forcing defenders forward and down hill to stop the run. What would worry me about Cardale, again from an Ohio State perspective, is that he doesn't have the same deep threat of Devin Smith snagging 50/50 balls way downfield and his deep threat is a bit diminished from what it was in the last few games last season. Mike Thomas isn't so much a major deep threat and Corey Smith was looking like the burner with good ball tracking skills that they'd try to employ on the outside...and he's suspended.

Okay, I could see that being the case. I think the problem on both fronts was likely inexperience, so hopefully with more reps he can get both fixed.

We have Heather Dinichs approval? We're boned.