On Thursday, the fifth and sixth black stripes were removed from Ohio State helmets this year, signifying two more Buckeyes had officially earned their respective way onto the team.
The first was walk-on senior tight end Tate Duarte out of Poland, Ohio.
Duarte walked on in the spring after playing previously at St. Francis and Ohio Dominican.
The second player on the day to have his stripe removed was freshman middle linebacker Teradja Mitchell.
Mitchell, out of Virginia Beach, is the first summer enrollee freshman to have his black stripe removed this fall.
Mitchell was the No. 2 inside linebacker in the 2018 recruiting class and the No. 44 player overall. Urban Meyer talked about his maturity on signing day, and it would appear that Mitchell put that maturity on display even through just six practices so far in fall camp.
Duarte and Mitchell joined freshman defensive tackle Tommy Togiai and freshman linebacker Dallas Gant as the latest players to have their black stripes removed so far this year.
You can see the clips of Mitchell and Duarte below.
⬛️?This guy, @t_duarte10 has been putting in the work to officially become a Buckeye‼️ #GoBucks #WinTheMoment pic.twitter.com/OCeqKKh3cR
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) August 9, 2018
⬛️? “That boy love to hit‼️” Congrats to @7eradja on getting that black stripe off‼️
#GoBucks #WinTheMoment pic.twitter.com/OiT8FpDh5C
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) August 9, 2018
Black Stripe Chart
March 30 – DL Aaron Cox (walk-on)
March 30 – WR De’Shawn White (walk-on)
April 11 – DT Tommy Togiai
August 8 – LB Dallas Gant
August 9 – TE Tate Duarte (walk-on)
August 9 – LB Teradja Mitchell
Teradja Mitchell is an assassin. He’s smart, he’s meticulous, he processes quickly and he destroys without remorse. Jack Tatum is looking down and he’s proud. Welcome home Teradja, it was inevitable.
There’s not a ton of information out there on Tate Duarte to get a handle on, but the fact that he has been so impressive that he’s already shed that black stripe says a enough. Welcome to the family of Buckeye Nation.
My friend James….funny you should mention Tatum looking down and being proud….Tatum would probably tell the young man not to play. Jack told me before he passed if had to do it all over again he never would have played….hope all is well with you.
Jack softened later in life and the Stingley hit certainly played a big part in that softening. I saw him during the time period when he was putting his story/book together, “They Call Me the Assassin”. He never mentioned that people shouldn’t play the game to me, but that if they DID play, they should play within the rules that govern them. A quote from Jack that made it into his book says it all to me.
“I’ll play the game the way the rules are written—I am supposed to hit people and destroy the play and the harder I hit them, the better I can do the job.”
Jack wasn’t a cheap shot artist and he did play the game within the rules. I know several former and current NFL players who can’t make that claim.
I’m well, thank you. I hope the same for you.