Zach Boren, Etienne Sabino, John Simon To Represent Ohio State At Big Ten Luncheon

Meyer is ready to make his mark on the B1G 

On Wednesday afternoon, the Big Ten Conference released the list of student-athletes who will attend the 2012 Big Ten Media Days and Kickoff Luncheon on Thursday and Friday, July 26 and 27, at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago.

Three players from every team will be in attendance, as well as all 12 head coaches. 

For the Buckeyes, fullback Zach Boren, linebacker Etienne Sabino and defensive lineman John Simon will be in attendance for Ohio State.

This comes as no surprise to Tressel fans, as often times the attendees would be seniors on the football team. Now it seems as if Urban Meyer will continue this trend for years to come.

As mentioned above, the event features all 12 conference head coaches and begins at 10 a.m. CT with the players and coaches autograph and photo session for fans attending the luncheon. 

The luncheon is scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m.The list of student-athletes scheduled to attend includes 21 returning All-Big Ten selections. The list also includes the last two Big Ten Offensive Players of the Year in Wisconsin’s Montee Ball (2011) and Michigan’s Denard Robinson (2010).

Keep it at Inside The Shoe for the latest news, updates and opinions on Ohio State athletics.

Urban Meyer Is Finally Home

Meyer is officially back in Columbus.

On a rainy afternoon in Columbus, Ohio, Ohio State got its man.

Urban Meyer was announced as the 24^th head coach of The Ohio State University at a press conference Wednesday.  After a tumultuous eleven months or so, Buckeye fans finally had a reason to smile, as Meyer said all the right things to make you believe that Ohio State football will be national title contenders again sooner rather than later.



Athletic Director Gene Smith gave an opening statement before handing the podium over to the former Bowling Green, Utah and Florida coach.  Smith said many good things about Meyer, calling him a great football coach, but more importantly, a great person.  Smith thanked Luke Fickell for all that he has done for the team, adding that Fickell will stay on the staff under Meyer.  “This is the right time,” Smith said, “for Urban Meyer to lead our football program.”

While Meyer’s name had been thrown around the Ohio State job for months, both Smith and Meyer confirmed that the first contact they had was on November 20, 2011.  They first met in person to talk about the opening on Wednesday, Nov. 23, Meyer was presented with an offer to become head coach on Sunday, Nov. 27, and he accepted the offer this morning, Nov. 28.

The Vest Takes A Hit

Yesterday, we told you that Yahoo! had a two month investigation going on that could be some bad news for Ohio State. Last night, we found out that OSU was conducting an investigation all along anyway, and found that Jim Tressel was, in fact, guilty. Ohio State then self reported a violation of NCAA bylaw 10.1 in January. Gene Smith said the staff became aware they had a leak (hence the Yahoo! report) and decided to come out with the information today. OSU has announced the following sanctions for Coach Tressel: A public reprimand and apology; a two-game suspension; attendance at a compliance seminar; and a $250,000 fine. 


While this is a pretty hefty punishment, it also might get the NCAA not to do anything about it, seeing the proper punishment has already taken place. Of course, the key thing is, is that if they are not satisfied with the results of this, then they could easily make Tressel suspended even longer, or something much worse. We have to keep our minds open though. While he will be missing the Akron and Toledo game, he will be back for the Miami game. We already know that the big question is who will start at quarterback next season. Now, that looms on the horizon even bigger, because they need all the help they can get, and Tressel has to miss all of the spring practices.