“Ohio State junior defensive standouts Tyquan Lewis and Raekwon McMillan have each been selected to the watch list of the 2016 Bronko Nagurski Trophy... Pat Elflein, who has already graduated, and fourth-year junior Billy Price were each named today to the watch list for the Outland Trophy.”

– Ohio State spokesperson (via press releases)

You know football season is right around the corner when watch lists get released. Today, Tyquan Lewis and Raekwon McMillan found themselves on the watch list for the Nagurski Award.

For McMillan, it’s his second appearance on an award watch list. Earlier in the week, he was named to the Bednarik Award watch list. The Nagurski Award is given to the best defensive player in college football (and is voted on by the Football Writers Association of America) while the Bednarik award focuses on the best defensive player of the year.

Lewis found himself on the watch list after leading Ohio State in sacks (8.0) last season.

Pat Elflein, like McMillan, shows up on a second preseason list. Already listed as a candidate for the Rimington Trophy, the Pickerington, Ohio native is in early contention to be awarded the Outland Trophy, the award given to the best interior lineman.

Joining Elflein for the Outland Trophy watch list is Billy Price. Last season, Price was part of a Buckeye frontline that paved the way for an average of 245.2 rushing yards per game.

With the college football season just under 60 days away, we’ll see if these Buckeyes can live up to the preseason hype.

“Coach Matta is the best. Not just because he’s a phenomenal basketball coach, but because he cares about us when we’re here in college and he cares about how we’re doing even when we graduate. He still keeps in contact with a lot of us.”

– Adam Jardy, talking with former Buckeye Jon Diebler (Columbus Dispatch)

Jon Diebler is back in town. The former three-point sharpshooter talked with the Columbus Dispatch’s Adam Jardy about running a camp for kids and delved into what Thad Matta means to past Buckeye players.

According to Jardy, Diebler’s brother, Jake, was the catalyst to how Jon got this camp up an running. Over 120 campers went under the tutelage of Dieber and a supporting cast of former Buckeye stars like Dallas Lauderdale and Evan Ravenal.

But, it was the camaraderie instilled by Thad Matta that brought the former Buckeyes back to Columbus summer-after-summer, according to Jardy’s account of Diebler.

Diebler was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers, but has spent his professional career overseas playing in Europe.

While he never played in the NBA, Diebler will always be a legend at Ohio State for making it rain 3-pointers against Penn State.

“Clemson and Alabama are among the favorites to win it all in 2016, with Florida State, Ohio State, Michigan, Oklahoma, Tennessee, LSU and Notre Dame bringing up the next tier of contenders.”

– Steven Lassan (Athlon Sports)

While watch lists were being cranked out, another batch of Bowl Projections came out into the world. This time, Steven Lassan at Athlon Sports made his predictions on where everyone was heading for the bowl season.

Ohio State, according to Lassan, is headed to the Fiesta Bowl Semifinal for a date with Florida State. In the Peach Bowl Semifinal, it would be a rematch of last season’s national championship with Clemson battling Alabama. However, Lassan has Florida State and Alabama playing for all the marbles in the CFP National Championship Game in Tampa, Fla. on Jan. 9.

Recently, SBNation ran a bowl game prediction, and had the Buckeyes going to the Rose Bowl to face Washington.

Even though these are just predictions, it’s a sigh of relief that people are picking the Buckeyes to show up in either a New Year’s Six Bowl or the College Football Playoffs. Ohio State returns just six starters, but have made enough noise to be considered a real threat to be in the national championship picture.

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