The 2019 Rose Bowl was the final game of Urban Meyer’s Buckeye career, but it also marked the end of the road for the OSU seniors as well.
It wasn’t a huge group; only nine scholarship players participated in Senior Day ceremonies. But it was definitely an impactful one.
The wide receivers alone – Parris Campbell, Terry McLaurin, and Johnnie Dixon – were all captains, with the first two serving in both 2017 and 2018.
Three were starters along the offensive line: Isaiah Prince, Demetrius Knox, and Malcolm Pridgeon, and Brady Taylor was a top backup.
Kicker Sean Nuernberger finished fourth in OSU history in points scored and never missed an extra point in his career: 216-for-216.
Backup linebacker Dante Booker was the only senior on defense, and finished his career with 74 tackles, nine for loss.
The class ended their careers with an 11-win season, a pair of 12-win years, and a 13-1 mark this year. The fifth-year players were also part of the 14-1 national championship season in 2014.
They won three Big Ten titles, a Rose Bowl, Cotton Bowl, and Fiesta Bowl.
In all, the fourth-year players ended their careers 48-6 as Buckeyes, just two wins shy of the school record of 50. The redshirts finished 62-7.
But it wasn’t an easy path for some.
“There’s been a lot of hard work, a lot of time put into it,” said Campbell. “Just coming in from high school, from playing running back my entire career since I’ve played football and then making a switch to receiver when I got to college, it was hard. It was rough for me. But you know, never gave up, never quit on myself.”
Meyer has frequently credited the team’s leaders for keeping them together during the occasional adversity that they have faced – whether it was comeback wins over Penn State in 2017 and 2018, or rebounding from stunning losses to Iowa or Purdue.
Prince was the person who stood up after the loss at Purdue and challenged the team to do something memorable with the rest of their season.
Meyer said that those seniors help create that culture in the locker room.
“Why does a fifth-year senior come back? For the brotherhood. Why does the team go on the road and when you’re down by two scores they come back and win that game? It’s not for a coach. It’s not – it’s for the brotherhood,” Meyer said.
As Campbell looked back at his career, he provided some pretty good advice for the players who will be back for the 2019 season.
“You don’t get anywhere in life without hard work,” he said. “I think I’m a testament to that.”
This year”s team is one of three classes to ever get 13 wins in a season. Haskins did very well yesterday, but showed rust, inconsistency and couldn’t run. Another year could do him wonders, but big money I sc hard to turn down.
Totally agree that Dwayne Haskins faces a difficult decision, but with so many $ out there for the taking since he will most likely be selected as the top qb in the draft, it’s a no brainer to leave. If on the other hand, the NFL owners/coaches slip Dwayne to the 3rd round, I think he can improve his standing to a 1st round draft choice playing for the Buckeyes 1 more yr, provided he and family feel the the injury risk is worth it, and he has confidence the receivers for next yr will perform to their potential. If he is a 2nd round q.v. pick, I think he comes back.
The Giants will take Haskins with their early pick. He will be set for life. The plan will be to have DH spend a year behind Eli Manning. That will work until Eli has his first two-INT game and then it will be Haskins for the next 12-15 years.
As Dwayne Haskins and others are contemplating their decisions whether to opt for the NFL or return for another year as a Buckeye, I can imagine how difficult the choice must be. Yes, millions of dollars are waiting for them. Who can pass that up, right? But the moment they declare, the game is no longer a game – it becomes a business, and you’re only as good as your last outing. When Haskins takes his first NFL snap, he’ll be competing with men 10 or more years older than him, guys who would delight in sending him into the next zip code. “Fun” is over, along with Brotherhood – as Urban talks about – as cold-hearted reality takes over. As the saying goes, you can only be young once. With the wisdom gleaned from decades of experience, I can say, why rush the process?
There is fun and brotherhoods in the NFL. Concerning the only young once, little known fact but he will be the same age next year no matter what he does. That is old people advice from those that would kill for the chance to be in college again.