Skull session Cardale Jones drops out at Pro Day Harry

Skull session: Cardale Jones drops out at Pro Day, Harry Miller’s mom shares her story, and Jim Knowles teaches, not competes

Sports News / By /

Today is Professional Day in Ohio, the most exciting job interview in the world.

Make sure you are subscribed Dan, Griffin as well as Garrick for updates from WHAC.

You can follow me too, if you want to. But I’ll just stare at my computer screen at home with my cat and give you the opposite of enjoying social media.

Word of the day: Insolent.

DOLO RETURNS. Today is a professional day in Ohio that is fun, cool, and exciting in its own right. But there’s still some juice for that, because the Buckeye royals will be back at the facilities to help drop some bombs.

So if you’ve ever wanted to know what Cardale and his cannon would look like throwing him at two of the best receivers in program history, this is your chance.

CJ Stroud will also be throwing, which will be a nice little preview of what’s to come next year for the NFL team representatives present. I’m pretty sure there will be teams that want to name him in the first round this year, but patience is a virtue.

MOTHER, SUPPORT, BIGGEST FAN ETC. We’ve talked a lot about Harry Miller’s struggles, his bravery and how anyone who feels this way is not alone – and it’s all for good reason.

But there is another side to this – the loved ones of the person who is struggling with their mental health, and how best to support, love and help them.

Harry’s mom, Christina Miller, told her side of the story.

Things seemed to be going well until they went awry. By December, we could feel Harry withdrawing, not responding, even angry. Our anxiety has reached a new high. Over the Christmas holidays, we agreed that we would not discuss school, football, and even his health, because he wanted it. We spent a week relaxing on the beach and just hanging out together. It was really wonderful.

But we did not discuss any of the issues that concern us. My husband and I told Harry that we would come to Ohio in January to visit him and talk. To be honest, I was a little angry. I wanted to know why he is pulling away. Was it because he was about to turn 21? Did we do something to piss him off? Was he still depressed? We didn’t know, but we were going to find out.

We were not prepared for what we found in Ohio: a bloody knife and a son who told everyone (doctors, coaches, parents, friends) what he thought they wanted to hear. The pain in his eyes was obvious. We talked, we cried, and together we decided it was time to move away from football. In truth, I’m pretty sure he already made that decision, but he was so afraid of disappointing us and everyone else that he was willing to sacrifice himself. I have no doubt that if I had continued in the same spirit, it would have led to a completely different result.

…

Although this is not the journey we expected for our son, it is perhaps an even more important mission than we could have imagined. Admittedly, I was angry for a while that our son was suffering so terribly and that my plan for him seemed to be falling apart. What I am learning is that this new plan is far more effective and important and as long as Harry is willing to be the voice and face of mental health for others, we will support him in every way we can.

In the letter, she recalls leaving Harry at school or talking to him on the phone and having very real fears and doubts that she would ever see her son again, which must be an absolutely unimaginable feeling.

She also gives some advice to anyone who can help support the mental health of athletes, even if it may be as simple as not being an asshole on the internet.

Mandatory reading.

TRAINING, NOT COMPETITION. I just can’t get enough of Jim Knowles’ approach to teaching football.

Yesterday, Ryan Day shared a bit of a take on what practice looks like with Knowles, host of the show: a lot less direct competition in every exercise and a lot more teaching and learning.

“What I noticed about Jim is that it’s not a competition every day to see who can win an exercise, but learning because he had his eye on that first game in September. There will be times when we want to go against each other, move the ball and compete, but I think he has a veteran coach in him, he understands the big picture. In the way he establishes, the way he teaches, there is a method. Before we left for spring break, we had practice where he defended the same way throughout practice. This is incredible training for me, it’s not about winning the routine, it’s about improving defense, learning and developing at a high level. I think it was really impressive. I’m impressed with the way the guys play, their energy and attention to detail.”

I don’t think I could be more interested in an assistant coach and I haven’t even seen a real product on the field.

NOT ONLY FOOTBALL PLAYERS. It’s a bit of an oxymoron, but I think the best coaches don’t really care about your athletic performance after all.

Ryan Day seems to be one of those coaches.

I’m not at the stage yet to even remotely think about these things, but this is absolutely the kind of coach that I would like my son or daughter to play with.

My son weighs eight pounds, purrs and is covered in soft white fluff, so I don’t think he’ll get any scholarship offers anytime soon.

THE SONG OF THE DAY. “Any” Justin Bieber.

DOES NOT DO SPORTS. How Ryan Flaherty used two monkeys to get into MLB… Tom Brady’s social media secret… Catastrophes you may not know about… How your thinking affects your personal life… My phone is haunting my boyfriend. ..