Afternoon Notes: The Tat Five, Apologies, & Stan Drayton

The Tat Five Return. There has been a ton of speculation over the past several weeks about whether all five suspended juniors would honor their pledge to return. Most assumed that Tressel would never get guys like Boom Herron and Mike Adams to come back with this silly commitment, and would later be rebuked even more by the media for letting them play in the Sugar Bowl. Well, they have all honored their pledges and will return for their senior season. Tressel had this to say yesterday:

"Our kids want to finish their degree and their commitment at Ohio State," Tressel told the Dispatch. "That is very important to each and every one of them, and to our staff and entire athletics family."

Obviously, there are many different ways to take this news. Part of me is impressed that each of these guys honored their word, something that is pretty rare in the athletic arena these days. On the other hand, before we turn them into saints, let's take into account that the draft stock for Pryor and company isn't exactly soaring. Outside of Herron, who will probably be sharing a lot more carries next season, each of these guys need another year in college. Not to be cynical, but I have a feeling that was as much a part of the decision for the Tat Five as honoring their word and making the ethical choice.

An ESPN apology. What was probably most disturbing thing about this whole incident wasn't the way the media threw the players under the bus, but rather how they made Tressel into a villain. Not only did they question his choice to allow the players to play in the Sugar Bowl, wondering whether any of the players would actually keep their word and serve their suspension, but also called Tressel's integrity and ability to run this program into question. So, it was nice to see at least one member of the media apologize for their hasty judgments. That journalist would be Adam Rittenberg of ESPN, who had this to say:

"Turns out, Ohio State won the Sugar Bowl and all five players kept their word. Buckeyes fans flooding my inbox are demanding that national media members apologize and praise the suspended players for their display of integrity.

"I can't control what my media colleagues do, but I'll fully admit I underestimated Tressel and his influence on his players. If these guys didn't care about disappointing their coach, at least one if not more would be entering the draft. Pryor and the others didn't want to let down The Vest, and that's very significant."

By the way, you can't find this story anywhere on ESPN's front page, it's hidden way down on the College Football page.

A quick pause to look at TSUN. Now I turn to a story you can find on ESPN's front page about the new defensive coordinator hire from Michigan. They were able to pull in Baltimore Ravens DC Greg Mattison, who held the same position for the Wolverines back in the mid-90's. Mattison had this to say about joining Hoke's staff:

"The biggest reason is Brady," Mattison told The News on Tuesday night. "I know he's going to win. Michigan is a special place. The longer you're away from it, even when you're in the NFL, it's still Michigan. Every Saturday when we're in our rooms relaxing before the Sunday games, I always watched Michigan. That doesn't leave you."

This is a big time hire, and one that I think will help Hoke transition Michigan back to a successful program. I have noticed Buckeye fans trying to make light of this hire or pick holes in what Mattison has accomplished, but that's just ridiculous. Michigan is going to be back and have a quality defense again, it is just a matter of time. As much I have enjoyed the Buckeyes beating them to a pulp and laughing at the dysfunction Rodriguez seemed to breed, the Big Ten and "The Game" need them to be back. So props on a great hire Hoke and Brandon!

The new WR coach? There is a lot of speculation going around that Stan Drayton will replace Coach Hazell as the wide receivers coach. The position remains open for the next few days, so it will be interesting to what comes from this rumor. What is really interesting is that Drayton isn't a wide receivers coach currently, he is the running backs coach for Florida (and has been an RB coach for most of his career). He has bounced around a lot though, with several different positions, including some time in the NFL. He's also a Cleveland native and a dynamic recruiter. Considering the amount of respect Urban Meyer has had for him, I'm cool with him coaching about anything on the offensive side of the ball.  

Ramzy FTW! Ramzy Nasrallah of Bucknuts has a great piece about Kirk Herbstreit being featured on 11W. Honestly, it's a must read. Beware though, reading it will produce some strong emotional reactions!