National Championship Notebook: Oklahoma Rumors, Ohio State Records, A Father’s Footsteps, And WrestleMania

Sooner Or Later?

Rumors have been circulating that Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles is being sought for the same position by Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables.

Knowles came to Ohio State from Oklahoma State, where he coached from 2018-2021. He built the Cowboys into one of the nation’s best defenses by the time he left for OSU, and has now done the same for the Buckeyes in an even shorter span of time.

It’s certainly understandable that Venables would be interested in Knowles given both his history of success and history in the state of Oklahoma.

Speaking at Saturday’s media day prior to Monday’s College Football Playoff National Championship Game against Notre Dame, Knowles was asked about the rumors.

“Just trying to beat Notre Dame,” he answered.

A little bit later, he got the question again.

“Notre Dame. That’s all I’m focused on,” he said. “You are right, these things happen, I guess, when you have success. And players are making plays, and my job is to put them in the best position. But, everybody, these things come up when you do well.”

Those may not be the most reassuring answers for Buckeye fans who don’t want to lose their defensive coordinator, but Knowles was later asked about junior linebacker CJ Hicks and he did mention a future at Ohio State.

“Yeah, I think CJ has skills,” Knowles said. “For him personally, I wish I could have used those skills more. But ultimately, the team and defense come first, and he knows that too. But that’s my job next year is to make sure that happens.”

Records Take A Backseat

Ohio State wide receiver Emeka Egbuka has 75 receptions for 947 yards and 10 touchdowns this season. He is the first Buckeye receiver in school history to have two seasons of 70 receptions. As a true sophomore, he caught 74 passes for 1,151 yards and 10 touchdowns.

He lost much of his junior season due to injury, but now stands just three receptions from holding the school record for most career receptions. The record currently belongs to KJ Hill with 201 receptions. Egbuka is also 95 yards receiving away from breaking Michael Jenkins’ school record of 2,898 career yards receiving.

Egbuka is also just 53 yards receiving away from joining former teammate Marvin Harrison, Jr. as the only Buckeyes with two 1,000-yard receiving seasons.

While all of that is great, and records are a nice touch, there’s only one thing that lasts forever.

“Yeah, it would be a great feeling, but I would really like a national championship more, so that’s really all I’m focused on,” Egbuka said on Saturday. “So doing whatever my team needs me to do to be successful in that aspect is what I’m going to do. So whether it’s 20 catches or zero, I’m going to be playing my tail off on Monday, so you can bet on that.”

Egbuka and his fellow receivers will be facing a Notre Dame defense on Monday that specializes in playing an aggressive man coverage scheme. It’s something that he welcomes.

“I think at the core, we’re wide receivers, so we love the opportunity to be able to go at a DB one on one,” he said. “At the end of the day whatever coverage they play, our coaches will have a great game plan and we’re going to go out there and do what we’re coached to do.”

Life Father, Like Son

Ohio State redshirt freshman defensive tackle Will Smith, Jr. has a national championship pedigree. His father was an All-American defensive end for the Buckeyes and was a key piece to Ohio State’s BCS National Championship in 2002.

The Buckeyes will play Notre Dame for the national championship on Monday, giving Will Jr. an opportunity to follow in his father’s championship footsteps.

“Yeah, I’ve thought about it a little bit,” Smith said on Saturday. “I’ve talked to my mom about it and it’s just so exciting to get able to have an opportunity to kind of join him in Ohio State history.”

Smith said his father talked about that 2002 season “all the time” and it was a point of pride that never goes away. As a kid, he even wore his father’s national championship ring.

“Yeah, I did,” he said. “It was frickin’ — it was unbelievable. It was awesome.”

Fittingly, Will Jr. has his late father’s ring in his possession. For a number of reasons, Smith would like to add his own ring to the family collection.

“So after he passed away, we split up the rings, so I was able to get that national championship ring,” he said. “If that does end up working out, I’ll probably wear his, too. It’ll represent both of us, the Smith name.”

Putting The ‘Mark’ In Marcus

Long before Marcus Freeman was Notre Dame’s head coach, he was an Ohio State linebacker. Long before he was an Ohio State linebacker, he was a fan of professional wrestling.

So then imagine his surprise when as a sophomore at OSU, one of the incoming freshman linebackers was the son of Joe Laurinaitis — aka “Animal,” one half of the greatest tag team of all-time, the Road Warriors.

That linebacker was James Laurinaitis, who is now Ohio State’s linebackers coach.

“Yeah, I grew up a wrestling fan, and he came in the year after I got to Ohio State,” Freeman said on Saturday. “And when I found out the son of the Animal was coming in, I was a fan. I’m a wrestling fan.”

The two of them went to their fair share of wrestling shows, including a handful of WrestleManias.

“I can’t remember how many,” Freeman said.

“I grew up watching it. I liked it. I don’t know, the characters. I think at different phases you enjoy different things. When I was young, everything was real. You ended up thinking, idolizing the Hulk Hogans and Ultimate Warriors and all those guys. And then as I got to go to some Wrestle Manias with James, you got to know some people. And now it’s about seeing your kids happy. And if my kids want to go see wrestling, as a father I would try to do that.”

Freeman has since passed on his wrestling fandom to his kids. They went to a show last year in Chicago, for instance.

“If we can get to a wrestling event and I can take my kids there, we try to,” he said.

Back in their Ohio State playing days, the duo even talked about becoming a tag team when their football careers were over.

Those careers are still ongoing, however, so the wrestling will have to wait.

Back To Football

The Notre Dame offensive line has been through the ringer all season long, with a number of injuries to four of their five starting positions. The only mainstay throughout the season has been right tackle Aamil Wagner.

The Irish lost starting left tackle Anthonie Knapp against Penn State, and starting right guard Rocco Spindler went down against the Nittany Lions as well. Redshirt freshman Charles Jagusah came in at right guard, and fifth-year senior Tosh Baker went in at left tackle.

Head coach Marcus Freeman announced last week that Knapp wouldn’t be available for this game due to a high ankle sprain, but that Spindler was still a possibility. On Saturday, it sounds like Spindler is a go based on Freeman’s answer about the left tackle situation.

“Yeah, we’ve been working Charles Jagusah at the left tackle but also playing some guard,” he said. “We have an idea of what we’re going to do starting on Monday, but it’s something I think we could wait until Monday to just say this is exactly what we’re going to do. But he’s been playing a lot of left tackle and playing some guard, too.”

Jagusah has only played in one game this year after being lost for the regular season due to a pectoral muscle tear. He only played in a couple of games last year as a true freshman, but did start in the bowl game at left tackle.

Ohio State has 16 sacks in three playoff games this season. Eleven of those sacks have come from the Buckeye defensive ends.

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