Daily Bullets (Mar. 16): Pokes add a QB, Boynton Loses Out on a Forward

“The key is not the ‘will to win’… everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important”
-Bob Knight

Bullets Rundown

• Christian Brown leaned Pokes, committed elsewhere
• Tulsa Union QB headed to Stillwater
• New faces at Spring Ball

Scores

• MT: OSU 5, Charlotte 2 and OSU 4, UMKC 0
• WT: OSU 6, Kansas 1
• BB: OSU 9, SELA 0

OSU Bullets

• Most Viewed (No. 1): 247 Expert Says Christian Brown is Leaning Pokes

#MarchSadness set in when Brown committed to Georgia on Friday. I’ve been in the camp that the Pokes need to find a top-shelf point guard with one of the remaining scholarships but who would turn down the most talented player in the class because he’s a power forward? Outside of the small chance that Isaiah Todd reclassifies and picks OSU, the best case scenario is surfacing another Isaac Likekele – a player whose stock was impacted by an injury.

• Most Viewed (No. 2): Pokes landed Tulsa Union QB for 2019

Given the fact the two of OSU’s starting quarterbacks over the last ten years have been walk-ons (Weeden and Cornelius), QBs coming to campus regardless of scholarship are worth noting. I “go Pokes” all day but it would have been tough to turn down a Columbia offer (assuming there’s some sort of academic scholarship promised), four years in the Big Apple would be fun.

All that to say, glad to have the young fella!

• Most Viewed (No. 3): New Faces Present for the Start of Spring Football

I think the most interesting new faces present (outside of Israel Antwine) are easily all coaches. Seeing how they interact with players, what their position groups look like in the spring game will be watched but interviews more than anything are intriguing.

• Most Viewed (No. 4): Surveying Lee Roy Smith’s Wrestling Lineage

This is wild – Smith’s family tree has produced 11 NCAA championships and 22 All-American honors. It may take 22 average men to pin any one of these descendants – what a legacy. I had no idea there was an MLB catcher in the family too.

• Most Viewed (No. 5): Pro Day Recap – Tyron Left Tire Marks on Practice Field

I still don’t know how to project Tyron Johnson into the NFL. I feel like he’s short at 6’1″ but all-star receivers like Davante Adams, DeAndre Hopkins, and Amari Cooper (Cowboy bias) are the same height. OBJ and Antonio Brown are shorter! If Tyron can use his top-end speed to get separation or consistently creat yards-after-catch, he can make a living playing ball.

• The season-ending sequence may have been an allegory of this season’s (post-Exodus) best-case scenario.

This season of OSU history can be called a lot of things, but one of the most prevalent traits it had was that it was entertaining. This team, undermanned and without a shot at postseason, play never gave up. The Cowboys were down 21 to TCU in what was almost assuredly their final game of the season, and with 26.1 seconds to go, OSU took its first lead of the game. [PFB]

When you think about the full roster’s potential (plus Cunningham, Weathers, Jones, and Calloo), you can adjust your expectation up a few spots in the rankings. Otherwise, you’re looking at making memories and snake biting some teams.

• I enjoyed this travel blog by Tramel on Kansas City.

Non-OSU Bullets

• Recently revisited this post on going deeper, not wider – good stuff
• This on how to read classics helped me as I churn through this 1,000+ page classic
• I liked some of these general rules about how to talk to people
• Good faith-based read on gentleness