Catching up on the Buckeyes

These days can’t come soon enough…

It was pretty busy last week in Buckeye nation, time to get caught up.

First and most importantly the women’s hoops team wrapped up a share of their 5th straight Big Ten conference title. I don’t follow women’s basketball but that’s a tremendous accomplishment in any sport- well done. Hopefully they’ll carry that into the tournament and do a little better than past years.

The other bit of good news on the Buckeye front is injured and paralyzed DB Tyson Gentry is regaining some movement in his legs, this according to an article in the Morning Journal. Fantastic news that hopefully will continue to get better.

The NFL combine wrapped up and it was mixed results for the Buckeyes. I put up a couple of posts last week but to finish it off, the final day of results went split. Malcolm Jenkins definitely disappointed running a slower than expected 40 but rebounded a bit with the best time of the combine in the 3-cone drill (6.59 seconds) and one of the best 20-yard shuttle times (4.07 seconds).

The story for the Buckeyes at the combine was how the lower-profile guys really helped themselves. Beanie, Laurinaitis, and Jenkins all were at or below expectations. Brian Robiskie, Brian Hartline, Marcus Freeman and Donald Washington all made significant impressions and no doubt made themselves some money.

As I detailed, Robiskie had a fantastic combine putting up decent test numbers and showing his superb route-running and pass-catching abilities. Robo is going to make some franchise very happy come next year.

Brian Hartline really opened some eyes in Indianapolis. While obviously not blessed with tremendous straight-line speed, Hartline ripped off a 2nd best time in the 3-cone drill (6.65 seconds), 4th best receiver time in the 20-yard shuttle (4.12 seconds) and the best overall time in the 60-yard shuttle (10.92 seconds). That goes along with his tapes which show his ability to run good routes and his overall toughness.

Also as I detailed, Marcus Freeman had a very good combine. Excellent drill numbers and reports indicated that he was equally impressive in his interviews.

The biggest surprise for the Buckeyes was Donald Washington. With the baggage that Washington carries in off-the-field issues, Washington needed to show well at the combine and did. Setting aside a disappointing 40 time, Washington delivered combine best numbers in both the vertical jump and broad jump. Both were numbers that set him in the top 5 for the entire decade for all combine participants. 11′3″ in particular in the broad jump is just sick. Washington clearly possesses tremendous physical gifts and hopefully for him, the right team will take a chance on him and keep him out of trouble.

Here’s an article recapping draft status of each of the players in case you want to see where they stand.

Never to early to look to 2010 football recruiting; here’s a good post on what to look for in a class that will be much smaller than ‘09.

And finally, It’s March which means the men’s hoops team is on the bubble again. Strap on your seat belt.

You’re welcome.