At the Bottom
When high school players are being recruited, they are constantly told how good they are and what schools can do for them and how good they can be. It can puff up a player’s ego to the point of no return.
That’s why when players finally arrive at college, the coaches begin what is known as the “derecruitment period.” This is where players learn that it doesn’t matter how many stars their recruiting profile had or which All-American jersey they were presented with.
This is what the Ohio State freshmen who have already enrolled are experiencing, but they were prepared for it.
“Well, in high school, when you are a very talented individual on your team and guys look up to you as a leader, it’s always going to be hard to come in and just accept that you are nothing now and you have new leaders and you are the youngest, the bottom of the totem pole,” said freshman cornerback Tyreke Johnson.
“The quicker you accept that, the better off you are going to be because the older guys are here to better you and help you. They are not here against you. They are here for your benefit, to learn from them.”
The Next in Line?
The freshmen currently on Ohio State’s campus are being led by OSU strength coach Mickey Marotti. For all intents and purposes, Marotti is the head coach of the football team until he hands them over to Urban Meyer for spring and fall camp.
It’s not easy for the freshmen to step onto campus in January and then immediately be put into Marotti’s program, so the proper mindset is a must.
“It’s hard, but you’ve always got to have a finish mindset,” said freshman center Matthew Jones. “You’ve always got to say that I could be great. You could be the next Billy Price, and that’s the mindset I have here every day.”
While some players might shy away from comparisons and expectations, Jones is excited to play at Ohio State, where the last two Rimington Trophy winners played.
“It’s a great feeling,” he said. “To see that I have a chance of being in the same position they are, I just have to put the effort in and give it my all just like they did.”
Texas Forever
The last time Ohio State brought in a freshman quarterback from Texas who was dealing with a knee injury, he turned out to be pretty good. J.T. Barrett, obviously, went on to set over 30 records at OSU. Now, Lake Travis quarterback Matthew Baldwin is the next in line as a Texas QB enrolling early at Ohio State with a knee injury.
The real likenesses, of course, are that Barrett and Baldwin are both Ohio State quarterbacks, and as rookies at a position of leadership, Barrett told Baldwin that it is better to be seen and not heard.
“These early years when you’re coming in — he came in from Texas just like me — you’ve just got to kind of put your head down and work hard,” Baldwin said. “You want to be a leader of the team early, but I haven’t played. All of us young guys haven’t really proved our worth here yet and contributed. So it’s hard to really take a huge leading position, but you’ve just got to put your head down and start making a reputation for yourself as someone who’s going to contribute to the team.”
Broken Schmoken
Matthew Baldwin wasn’t the only early enrollee who arrived with an injury. Redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Antwuan Jackson showed up with an injured ankle/foot. His injury wasn’t enough to stop him from playing in his final game, even though it probably should have.
“Yeah it was an old fracture from at Blinn,” Jackson said on signing day. “It was at my bowl game, I fractured it in practice before we went to the bowl game. Actually it was a sprained ankle at first, and then a couple weeks after that, I figured that’s what it was. But I found out here it was a fractured bone in my foot. Had surgery yesterday, had MRI Monday.”
Why did he play on it?
“I just did what my teammates would do, trying to win,” he said.
How long will Jackson be out?
“They said probably four to six weeks to heal, so I’ll be back in spring ball,” he said. “Probably not the first week or so, but just depends on how my foot is.”
These young men seem to have the fight attitude.