After the coaches and players greeted the fans at Meet the Sooners Day, Bob Stoops, Mike Stoops, Lincoln Riley, Baker Mayfield and Jordan Evans took the podium and spoke with the media. Here are some of the highlights:

Considering that this is the second year in Lincoln Riley’s system, we can expect the offense to flow a bit better despite the glaring absence of Sterling Shepard.

Now THIS is interesting. We’ve assumed for a while now that Orlando Brown and Dru Samia would be the bookends on the offensive line for the next few years, but I guess that may not necessarily be the case.

It’s great to hear that Jones – one of the highest-rated prospects of the 2016 class – is looking like a possible impact player. It’s outstanding to hear that Smallwood is coming back into the fold after the injury he suffered last season. He’s always shown some upside, and it may finally be on display this season.

Michiah Quick moved to cornerback in the spring, and he seems to be a bit of a natural at the position. He likely won’t be a starter this year, but it will be interesting to see if he is brought into the game in certain packages.

My guess is that Jordan has to stay on the straight-and-narrow and fulfill some obligations leading up to the season, but he’ll be on the field vs. Houston.

Coach Riley speaks the truth.

I’m fine with this. Dakota doesn’t have the upside of P.J. Mbanasor, but he filled in admirably against Texas Tech last season when Sanchez was out with an injury.

This is something that really popped out to me (and probably many who heard it). We’ve heard some stuff about Basquine, but it sounds like he’ll really play this year.

Position: SS
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 200
Year: Redshirt Senior
Hometown: Norfolk

The Hoos have depth problems at a number of positions this year, many of which we’ve discussed at length in these player previews. Safety, however, is one place where we really haven’t mentioned the depth issues. The Hoos have just 5 scholarship safeties on the roster, and only 3 of those have seen the field. One of them moved from RB this offseason.

Of course, one of those safeties is Quin Blanding, perhaps the best player on the team. Almost definitely the best NFL prospect on the team. And another one is Wil Wahee. Wahee played both safety and corner in the previous scheme, and started 6 times last year. He mostly lined up as the nickel DB, which had him at CB more often than not. The previous year, Wahee spent most of his time on special teams and actually led the team with 9 special teams tackles. In total, Wahee has 55 tackles in his career, including 1 TFL. He also has 4 passes defensed, a forced fumble and 2 fumble recoveries (one of which he returned for a TD last year against Syracuse.

This year, the Hoos are likely to spend a fair amount of time in nickel packages. Whether than means bringing another DB onto the field, or simply moving a LB (Malcolm Cook most likely) into the secondary remains to be seen. There has been much talk about Bronco Mendenhall’s 3-4 defense being malleable enough to move to a 3-3-5, 4-2-5 or even a 2-4-5 without needing to substitute.

Though Wahee has spent more time at CB than at S, he is more comfortable at S. He’s not really a man cover guy, though he is certainly capable of handling a TE or RB. Wahee wants to play facing the line of scrimmage. He’s best in zone schemes where he can use his read-and-react skills to break on the pass and make a play on the ball.

Wahee was recruited as an athlete and was rated a 3-star recruit by ESPN and 247sports. He was rated 2-stars by Rivals. Wahee played LB and WR in HS, but was too small for LB in college. Thus the move to safety. He also returned kicks, and though he hasn’t had an opportunity to do that in college, he’s proven to be a valuable cover man on both KR and PR.

Below is his high school highlight reel. This video includes music and the quality is poor. The first 1:40 of the video is offensive highlights. It then transitions to defense.

The only thing we can learn from the offense portion of the video is that Wahee seems to have good hands. This proved true on his scoop-and-score against Syracuse last year. On defense, Wahee is a physical player, despite his size limitations. Though we do see Wahee intercept a pass and play zone coverage a few times, there aren’t any highlights of him in man coverage. It has been 4 years since Wahee left HS, and he has spent that entire time at DB. So it is possible that his coverage skills have developed since leaving HS. This is one reason why can be hard to project HS prospects over their college careers. Wahee is playing an entirely different position from what he did in HS and has only recently begun to truly develop as a DB.

Though Wahee has put on a significant amount of weight since arriving on grounds, he’s still a bit undersized as an in-the-box safety. This is why he’s likely to be used as an extra DB. He can line up opposite a slot receiver and handle the flat zone. He is capable of supporting the run on the edge, but isn’t big enough to fight off the blocks of bigger OLs or TEs.

Both starting safeties from last year return and are unlikely to be replaced in the starting lineup, unless they are injured. So Wahee isn’t looking to enter the starting lineup. However, he projects to be one of the top candidates for snaps as an extra DB when needed. Because he isn’t the best cover guy, he may not be used on 3rd downs or other passing situations, but he’ll likely be used in other situations, especially against teams that like to run the ball.

In music, there are a total of eight steps in an octatonic scale – hence the root word, octa. The notes a scale revolve around are: A,B,C,D,E,F and G. There are also half-step notes that go sharp (higher) and flat (lower) – those we’ll discuss in a later story.

Ohio State’s 2012 season, in a way, was an ascending scale. Head coach Urban Meyer had entered into the Big Ten proverbial ring, and was laying the smackdown on anyone that dared get in the Scarlet and Gray’s way. When the Buckeyes faced the Purdue Boilermakers, they were No. 7 in the country with an undefeated record of 7-0.

Like any octatonic scale, they take time to learn – you just don’t wake up on Saturday morning and know how to play a G major scale. As Purdue rolled into Columbus, Ohio for a noon contest on Oct. 15, 2012, the squadron led by coach Meyer was about to learn how to finish their eighth game of the season with a win.

Playing scales, especially when you are being judged in competition, can be hard; you don’t know what scales are being asked, but you know what can be asked. The reason why this game is a memorable ‘Meyer Moment’ isn’t because the Buckeyes won in overtime, but it was how they won.

A backup quarterback took the reigns under center, and had to navigate against a program that has been known to be the figurative trap scale that has ruined/came close to ruining Ohio State’s audition in front of the college football world – spoiling Big Ten championships and national championship bids in the process.

Let’s look back at the time Ohio State survived Purdue by way of Kenny Guiton.

Geoff Hammersley

How’d we get here

Three weeks after the narrow escape in East Lansing, Mich. behind a potent running attack, the Buckeyes went back-to-back weeks winning under the lights. Meyer’s first night game at Ohio State featured an eye-popping 63-38 chopping of the Nebraska Cornhuskers, and a not-that-close 52-49 win on the road against Indiana.

Purdue, on the other hand, suffered three losses. Before coming to Columbus, the Boilermakers entertained Michigan and Wisconsin at home in consecutive weeks – losing both in blowout fashion.

This wasn’t a good time to be fourth year coach Danny Hope. At this point in time, Hope had compiled a 19-24 record at Purdue. To put that into perspective, Meyer was 111-23 overall. Making things even worse for the Boilermakers was the fact that they have historically lost in Columbus.

Carrying a 25-5-2 record of losing in Columbus, Hope tried to string together a second consecutive win against the Buckeyes. It would be daunting, but not impossible.

You play 60 minutes, not 30

Now, onto the game.

At times throughout the Meyer regime, the Buckeyes have had slow starts. Eventually, the Scarlet and Gray find ways for the engine to start, and end up breaking away from the competition.

In this game, it took longer than expected for the OSU caravan to get off to the races.

After Purdue received the kickoff, they were placed on their own 17-yard line. Apparently, that was too close for Boilermaker quarterback Caleb TerBush. TerBush connected with wide receiver Akeem Shavers, who took it to the house for six. One play, 83 yards, and advantage Purdue.

However, they get their extra point blocked. (This would be an ‘x-factor’ in the waning minutes of the game).

It took a little over nine minutes for the Buckeyes to find an answer to the Boilermakers’ six points. Quarterback Braxton Miller guided the Buckeyes to the redzone, and took off from eight yards out for the game tying touchdown. Unlike Purdue, Ohio State’s kicker, Drew Basil, nailed the extra point to give the home team the one-point lead.

That lead would last for, literally, 12 seconds.

Akeem Hunt housed the ensuing kickoff 100 yards. Purdue made this extra point, and pulled ahead 13-7.

After a second quarter that featured a few scoring chances, the halftime score was still 13-7 in favor of the visitors.

That eighth win for Ohio State was shaping up to be a frustrating one. Of the seven drives the Buckeyes had in the first half, only one of them exceeded 20 yards – their touchdown drive.

There was a bright side, though: the deficit could’ve been worse. If it weren’t for Buckeyes defensive standout C.J. Barnett intercepting a TerBush pass in the endzone midway through the second quarter, the Boilermakers might’ve had a double-digit lead heading into the break.

Hope had somehow guided his squad to the lead after 30 minutes of play. Unfortunately for him, you gotta play 60 minutes to get the win.

But at least they brought the world’s largest drum.

Geoff Hammersley This is the world’s largest drum, allegedly

The ballad of Kenny Guiton

Now we get to the man, the myth, the legend. In the sections before, I discussed the lead up to what Guiton was about to go up against. The Buckeyes were cruising throughout the season, but seemed to lock the brakes in the first half against Purdue.

Going back to the music theme of this piece: the Buckeyes were about to figuratively flub the last note of their scale – and judges remember the last note of a scale.

Good thing Guiton was there to save the day. But, before we get to the legend of (Low G) Kenny G, we have to look at how he got the chance to play in the first place.

Miller still struggled to find his groove in the third quarter. However, he did hit a deep pass to wide receiver Chris Fields, setting up a Carlos Hyde touchdown. The mixed results from Braxton came from the swarming of Boilermaker defenders that forced broken up passes, sacks and a fumble.

All this prevented Braxton Miller from doing Braxton Miller things.

After blocking a Purdue field goal late in the third frame, the Buckeyes dug their feet into the ground and cranked up the intensity level on their comeback efforts. With all the momentum in the world following the block, and only a 20-14 deficit, Miller started the new drive with a 37-yard rush up the near sideline.

As Josh Johnson, the tackler, got up, Braxton stayed down. On that cloudy Saturday afternoon in Columbus, the air was sucked out of The ‘Shoe.

It took a while before Miller was carted off the field. In that moment, Guiton was tasked with leading the Buckeyes’ comeback efforts – filling in for the heart and soul of the Scarlet and Gray.

Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images Enter, Stage Left: Guiton’s heroics against Purdue proved his ability to be cool under pressure

Guiton’s first drive against the Boilermakers went uneventful; his second drive ended in a safety after an illegal block was called in the endzone.

Two drives, two points surrendered, and now an eight point deficit with 10 minutes and change remaining. As time bled off the clock, this game had the hallmarks of a colossal loss to the hands of the Boilermakers. Those pesky characters in black and gold had been the bane of Ohio State’s existence since the start of the millennium. They tried to ruin the Buckeyes’ 2002 championship season, ruined a 2010 championship bid for the scarlet and gray, and were about to take credit as the first team to defeat Urban Meyer as the headman in charge of a Big Ten program.

Forty-seven seconds were all that stood between the Boilermakers and their new found destiny. Just think, this could’ve been a factor for Danny Hope getting a new lease on life in West Lafayette.

But, the drive of a lifetime was about to unfold in front of 105,290 people inside Ohio Stadium.

Having to go 61 yards for the touchdown and game-tying two-point conversion, Meyer and the Buckeyes knew that every second mattered – as did every yard. A 39-yard reception by Devin Smith, followed up by an eight yard catch by Evan Spencer put the Buckeyes on the Purdue 14-yard line with 28 seconds remaining.

With time ticking away, passing was the only viable option to the endzone. Two Guiton passes wound up being incomplete, and the third one, thrown to a contested Spencer, also fell incomplete.

However, the yellow hanky was thrown on the play.

Call it what you will, but it seems the college football gods are benefactors to Ohio State cementing their place in college football lore via pass-interference/holding calls in the final moments of close contests. In this case, the Boilermakers committed a dumbfounded pass interference call; the consequence being the ball placed at the two yard line with eight seconds to play.

Ohio State might’ve been able to get two plays off, but they needed only one, for Kenny G was the man under center.

Even though Guiton got the touchdown, the Buckeyes still needed to get the two-point conversion. If they didn’t get the deuce, this remarkable drive would be for not.

Lined up in the all-too-familiar shotgun formation, Guiton took the snap, scampered to his right – drawing one of the Purdue lineman – and looked back to his left and saw a wide open Jeff Heuerman.

Just like that: overtime.

And once again, Guiton made the right plays when he needed to. A 17-yard pass to Jake Stoneburner put the Buckeyes on the doorstep of a touchdown, which was later punched in by Hyde.

Purdue, which was probably feeling the ill effects of an Ohio State team on the warpath, folded on their rebuttal drive. A pair of incompletions, followed by a just-make-this-fourth-down-manageable short pass, put the Boilermakers on a 4th-and-5 at the OSU 20.

From there, Purdue Pete’s last stand involved a rushed TerBush, who launched the football on his back foot as the pocket collapsed.

Scale complete.

From a fan’s perspective, especially if you were in The ‘Shoe on that faithful afternoon, the 2012 edition of Ohio State-Purdue was memorable because hope felt lost after trailing 22-14. There was no Braxton, a stagnate offense that really didn’t click for 55 minutes, and the nauseating feeling that Purdue was going to beat Ohio State, again. Being at the game, I remember, clearly, the Braveheart-esque speech that one of the Block ‘O’ members was trying to recite over the microphone in the South Stands in an attempt to rally support.

Kenny Guiton jump-started the fact that a back-up quarterback at Ohio State can lead a team in the heat of battle. Whether that comes from Meyer’s ability to teach his players, or the intrinsic motivation to win, Ohio State has become a factory of clutch fill-in quarterbacks – and it all stemmed from this game with Guiton.

For a backup quarterback to walk into the spotlight is one thing, but for him to lead the cavalry on a game-tying drive, then lead his team on a game winning overtime drive … that doesn’t happen to every program.

Ohio State has now seen that happen with three quarterbacks since Meyer’s arrival in Columbus. Guiton, J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones filled in at times for an injured starter, and led the Buckeyes to dramatic, improbable wins.

But, this shouldn’t be surprising. Like in music, the best musicians always find ways to complete their scales, prepared pieces and whatever sight reading obstacle is thrown their way. Its what separates the good musicians from the best musicians.

Over the past four seasons, Meyer’s program have transcended from being the best, to downright legendary.

The Program and Poster

Geoff Hammersley All around me are familiar faces

Unearthed from the gameday program archive, the Ohio State-Purdue program featured Ohrian Johnson, Corey “Philly” Brown, Nathan Williams and Jake Stoneburner.

On the inside, the souvenir poster had a quartet of Buckeye stars. Rod Smith, Mike Bennett, Taylor Rice and Adam Griffin graced the fold out.

Geoff Hammersley

What happened around the college football world?

• There were 12 undefeated teams entering Week 8 of the 2012 season. Ohio State and Ohio University were the only two programs to be 7-0. Believe it or not, Rutgers was 6-0 and Cincinnati was 5-0. After Week 8, there would only be 11 undefeated programs – Cincinnati lost to Toledo.

• Michigan got the best of Michigan State, 12-10. A go-ahead field goal with five seconds left was the difference maker in the Wolverines taking home the Paul Bunyan Trophy. Three years later, the Spartans would use special teams of their own to beat the Wolverines. The blocked punt from last season never gets old.

• Notre Dame kept on convincing the world that they were the team of destiny, as they eked by BYU, 17-14. Earlier in the season, the Fighting Irish just barely got passed Purdue, 20-17.

Current Events at the time

• The final presidential debate took place in Boca Raton, Fla. on Oct. 22, 2012. Incumbent President Barack Obama took on Republican nominee Mitt Romney in a debate that switched from foreign policy to issues within the United States borders.

• Michigan couldn’t catch a break sports wise . As the Wolverines and Spartans seasons spiraled downward, the Detroit Tigers landed the crushing blow to the Great Lakes State. In the World Series, San Francisco defeated Detroit in a sweep. Pablo Sandoval was awarded the World Series MVP, as the Giants won their second title in three seasons.

Daily Tar Heel | Jeremy Vernon: UNC football held their first practice of training camp Friday morning, and a few takeaways were immediately evident. This team is not satisfied with what it accomplished last year and wants to do more. Fixing the run defense that was badly exposed is also a priority.

From The Rumble Seat | Josh Brundage: Our Georgia Tech sister site previews UNC football’s upcoming season and predicts an 8-4 season ahead for the Tar Heels. Do you think they are overly pessimistic about the team’s chances?

News & Observer | Andrew Carter: What does the football team need to focus on now that camp is open? Preparing for Georgia, upping their defensive creativity, and having Mitch Trubisky slide into a leadership role, among other things.

247Sports | Jerry Meyer: Roy Williams is now recruiting Minneapolis power forward Jericho Sims. Sims’ hometown school, University of Minnesota, appears to be in the lead for his services at this point with the Texas Longhorns also showing interest.

Patrick Towles, BC’s transfer quarterback from Kentucky is surrounded by expectations this upcoming season. A year removed from being one of the worst offensive teams in the nation, BC has brought him in to revitalize the passing game that finished near the bottom of all college football. On Friday it was announced that he was named to the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Watch List for 2016.

What is this award? According to the BC press release: “The award was established in 1987 and is presented annually to the nation’s top college quarterback based on character, citizenship, scholastic achievement, leadership qualities and athletic accomplishments.” Former BC great Matt Ryan won the award in 2007, after a fantastic season.

Towles, a graduate student threw for 2,148 yards, nine touchdowns and fourteen interceptions. The hope going into this season is that the change of scenario and working with new offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler will help him transform into a dynamic quarterback.

Other notable players on the watch list include: Sean Maguire (FSU), Deshaun Watson (Clemson), Thomas Sirk (Duke), Brad Kaaya (Miami), Nathan Peterman (Pittsburgh), and Mitch Tribusky (UNC).

The 2016 football season is almost upon us. And it is about time. I’m ready for some “Let’s Go Mountaineers”, “Country Roads” and Tony Caridi. That got me thinking, this season’s schedule sets up so much better than last year’s death march in October.

Current Schedule

2016 WVU Schedule

For the first month of the season, the Mountaineers do not leave the area except for a “neutral site” game at FedEx Field against the BYU Cougars. If that game isn’t 75% Mountaineer fans, I’ll be disappointed.

The ‘Eers even get a bye week before traveling to Lubbock, Texas against the Texas Tech Red Raiders. They alternate home and away games throughout the season and end the season against the Baylor Bears.

There are still some things that could be better, so let’s take a look at how we could set the schedule up in the most ideal way possible. This exercise ignores the other teams schedule in terms of bye weeks, opponent and the like because trying to rearrange 12 different teams and their respective opponents is an exercise in futility. So here is my take on a revised schedule.

Week One – Missouri Tigers

I like the idea of starting the year off against Missouri. Its a good test for the Mountaineers. Missouri is breaking in a new coach and their offense is still a big question mark.

Week Two – Youngstown State Penguins

FCS games are still a reality of the schedule and so let us get this one out of the way early.

Week Three – BYU Cougars

Here is where I change the schedule. Instead of a bye week two weeks into the schedule, I want to immediately play the Cougars following Youngstown State. I don’t like having a bye week two weeks into the season. We just started playing football, let’s keep playing football!

Week Four – Kansas State Wildcats

Entering the fifth year of Big 12 play, the Mountaineers have always played the Wildcats later in the season. That hasn’t worked out so well so I like the idea of playing them early. The Wildcats are likely to start Jesse Ertz who got hurt on the first play of the game last year. He’s never faced the aggressive 3-3-5 so that should be an advantage to the Mountaineers.

Week Five – Bye

After four straight weeks of football, the players will need a break. Their bodies will be nicked and dinged up and a week off will give everyone a chance to heal. Plus next week is a long travel week, so it will give everyone time to adjust.

Week Six – at Texas Longhorns

I always hate playing Texas late in the year. They are a team that seems to lose their identity in the beginning of the year and then toward the end of the year realize just what kind of team they should be. The Longhorns most likely will also have a new signal caller and if you notice, I want to play those guys early. This could be the first conference home game for a freshman, who will likely have some nerves. So again, let’s play this guy early.

Week Seven – TCU Horned Frogs

After an away game with Texas, its back home against the Horned Frogs. The Horned Frogs also will be breaking in a new quarterback. TCU has been a thorn in the Mountaineers side, especially in Morgantown. This game, dependent on how good both teams are, could be a Gameday possibility in Week Seven. There is Ohio Sate vs Wisconsin, Ole Miss vs Arkansas, Bama vs Tennessee and not many other marquee games on the schedule.

Week Eight – at Iowa St. Cyclones

I know the Big 12 has “decided” that Iowa State is WVU’s “rival”. I’m glad they gave us someone but I fully disagree that it is ISU. Outside of one game where we simply stopped playing, ISU has not been competitive on the field with the Mountaineers. Maybe that will change with new head coach Matt Campbell, but I seriously doubt it. Having an easier game in the middle of the schedule will be nice.

Week Nine – Oklahoma Sooners

Here we go. I dislike playing Texas late in the year and I dislike playing Oklahoma early in the year. So I’m playing Oklahoma in Week Nine. This is the weekend before Halloween in Morgantown. It will be cold, it will be rowdy and if the Mountaineers play well up to this point, it could be a night game.

Week Ten – Bye

Again, after four weeks of football bodies are nicked and banged up so a week off will be good for everybody. Plus, the following week the Mountaineers are traveling.

Week Eleven – at Texas Tech Red Raiders

Lubbock is a weird, weird place. Its windy and colder than expected. The Mountaineers will have to face one of the nation’s top offenses. Having an extra week to prepare for Kliff Kingsbury’s Air Raid attack and the dual-threat nature of Patrick Mahomes, will be helpful for everyone.

Week Twelve – Kansas Jayhawks

Much like Iowa State, outside of a fluke 2013 game, Kansas hasn’t been competitive against the Mountaineers. Having an easier game near the end of the year will be helpful for getting younger players experience.

Week Thirteen (Rivalry Week) – at Oklahoma State Cowboys

Oklahoma State is my pick for a rival in the Big 12, and I do use that term semi-loosely. The two teams have had some memorable games, from the upset in 2013 to the heartbreaker last year. Both teams are typically well matched and have playmakers on both sides of the field. I know Oklahoma State has the Sooners, who they play at the end of the season and Texas Tech but I think this could be a solid rivalry given time. The programs are more similar than you think.

Week Fourteen – Baylor Bears

This year, I fully expect Baylor to be a tirefire at the end of the year. With the departure of Art Briles and loss of different players, I think Baylor is going to be struggling to field a competitive team at the end of the year. But even if they are, the Bears have not beaten the Mountaineers in Morgantown and December in Morgantown is cold. I like the chances for the Mountaineers in December.

While Fighting Illini football was busy wrapping up their second training camp practice on Friday, a trio of in-state defensive backs were on hand to check out campus. Illini Inquirer and 247Sports reported that class-of-2018 prospects Tyrik Henderson (Carol Stream), Greg Newsome (Carol Stream), and Derric Lee all made the trip to watch the team and tour facilities.

Henderson has been rated as an early three-star recruit by both scouting services, and he has scholarship offers from Purdue, Toledo, Central Michigan, and South Dakota State. Newsome is Henderson’s high school teammate at Glenbard North teammate, and he’s also received interest from the Rockets.

Lee, a 6-foot cornerback from Waubonsie Valley high school, has already heard from several other Power 5 programs including Missouri, Penn State, and Indiana.

Additionally, class-of-2019 offensive lineman Trevor Keegan was also in town for his own unofficial visit. According to his 247Sports profile, the big 6-foot-5, 270-pound sophomore already has a scholarship offer from Northwestern.