Luke Wypler Adjusting To College Life, Columbus Food Scene

The transition from high school to college can be a difficult time for a lot of students.

It’s often the first time they’ve been away from home for an extended stretch, the academics get tougher, and the workouts for football players are on a whole different level.

And for those moving from another region, what some might see as minor variations in food can be a major adjustment.

Freshman offensive lineman Luke Wypler, a native of New Jersey, was a little shocked with the pizza choices in Columbus.

“I don’t mind about the shape, it’s more about the crust, the sauce, the cheese. Gotta have a good combination of each and the crust is really lacking,” Wypler said. 

While the pizza options in Central Ohio might not stack up to what’s in New Jersey, Wypler is a Buckeye because of the football. That’s an area where the Garden State’s options simply couldn’t match up.

“First off, was the winning culture for sure,” said Wypler. “My first visit here when Urban Meyer was still the head coach, get to see what he built here and how everybody in the building is just focused on winning. And at first I was like, ‘Ah, this is somewhere I want to be and something I want to build, even further.'”

The process of building that started with winter conditioning, and will continue Monday with the start of spring practice.

Wypler was an interior offensive lineman in high school, and projects as either a center or guard in college, but he said he’ll play “kick return, punt, play quarterback, whatever they need me to do, I’m willing to do.”

“When I committed I told them I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get on the field, and whatever they put me, whatever they want to do with me I’m gonna give it 110% and let the chips fall,” he said.

Wypler and sophomore Harry Miller came to Ohio State with somewhat similar backgrounds. Both had strong enough academic resumes to hold offers from Stanford, and they committed within a month of each other during the summer of 2018. They talked with each other before making those decisions.

“We kind of were just like we want to win and for us to play on a big stage and where the lights are the brightest and the stakes are the highest and to be able to kind of be part of this brotherhood,” Wypler said.

Now, both of them could be in the two-deep at either center or guard.

And even though Miller is a native of Georgia, and not New Jersey, he’s even helping Wypler find some food that’s a little more like what he’s used to.

“He actually brought me to Tommy’s and we were sitting there I was like eating the pizza and I was like, ‘this is the closest thing to East Coast pizza,'” Wypler said. 

“This is the happiest I’ve been in three weeks.”