COLUMBUS — Ohio State football’s seventh annual job fair took place at the Huntington Club at Ohio Stadium on Friday night. It has been a successful opportunity for members of the football team — as well as other student-athletes — to look into professional opportunities after sports.
The job fair featured representatives from over 50 companies from more than a dozen business sectors that ranged from Nike, Oracle, the Cleveland Cavaliers, Marathon, Experience Columbus, and many more.
The job fair that former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer established six years ago has come full circle for many of his players. Former players who attended the job fairs years ago have now returned with their employers to help current Buckeyes prepare for life after football.
Ke’Von Huguely, who joined the football program as a walk-on running back in 2015 and played for the Buckeyes for another three years, graduated from Ohio State in April and is now an Ohio state highway patrol officer.
Huguely’s new job as an officer came as a result of the connections he made at one of the job fairs he attended as a player under Meyer.
“I’m just happy that I’m here and I took the opportunity that Ohio State gave me,” Huguely said. “I wouldn’t be here without them right now.”
It was when Ohio State brought the highway patrol officers to the job fair and he made those connections that he learned what he needed to do to start the process of becoming a state trooper.
Now, Huguely got to spend his evening on the other side of the table, talking to many former teammates and young Buckeyes about the importance of finding a career outside of football. He said many of the guys were interested in hearing his story and hearing about his new career path.
“I just feel like it’s important to let the younger guys know that the career fair is important,” he said, “Just let them know that there are different opportunities you can go and take, just take all opportunities you can get and run away with it just like I did. It’s a fun process.”
As a new head coach, Ryan Day found it important to maintain the Real Life Wednesday program and the annual job fair because of the success it has had.
“When you look at what he [Meyer] has done, it’s tremendous, in the last seven years and what he has built up and I wanted to keep it going and there’s a responsibility to keep it going because of what has gone on and we want to enhance it,” Day said. “The city of Columbus and Ohio State go hand in hand and we want to make sure we enhance that moving forward.”
Huguely, a native of Dayton, Ohio, has now made Columbus his home. He is just one example of what Day hopes to see with players in the future.
“The idea is that someday these guys are not only are they getting jobs but they are staying in Columbus,” Day said. “We want to make that connection here in Columbus so these guys come back and help. That’s the brotherhood and that’s what we’re trying to cultivate moving forward. That’s the goal, to get as many former players here as we can.”
