BELLVILLE, Ohio — Grant Reed was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2012. When he found out, he named the cancerous enemy “Michigan” because, as he put it, “Ohio State always beats Michigan and we’re going to beat this.”
Reed feels the same way about this weekend’s match-up in the northern state.
He said he isn’t the one to predict scores, he just knows the Buckeyes will trounce the Wolverines.
“I just know they’re going to win. That’s all I know,” said Reed, who is now attending Clear Fork High School full-time.
“He goes in for a full day twice a week and then we let him sleep in on days he has study hall during his first period,” said his father, Troy Reed.
Troy said the family spent eight weeks in Houston, Texas over the summer because Grant needed proton therapy, a treatment not yet provided at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus.
Before that, Grant underwent intensive chemotherapy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus to remove the second tumor that was found in December 2014. When the second tumor was found, Grant had been tumor-free for 18 months.
Grant knows the Buckeyes will need to employ strategies to beat the team up north, just like he and the doctors used to beat his Michigan-named tumor.
“They (the Buckeyes) don’t really play the first half to their advantage. They got good defense but lack in offense. If they want to win, they got to do well in the first (half),” said Grant.
To beat Michigan, and to contend for another national championship title, they must ramp up their first half game, said Grant.
And which quarterback, Cardale Jones, J.T. Barrett or Braxton Miller, should start?
“Cardale,” said Reed without hesitation. Grant offered this advice to coach Urban Meyer over the summer during a ‘Lauren’s First and Goal’ fundraiser. Jones started the season as the Buckeye’s first-string quarterback.
But Jones doesn’t stack up against running back Ezekiel Elliott in Grant’s favorite Buckeyes roster.
“I like his ability to stay up for so long. If there’s multiple guys on him, he’s just still running,” Grant said.
Although Grant said it to be unlikely, if Michigan won, it will have been because they capitalized on the Buckeyes’ mistakes in the first half.
“If they’re (the Wolverines) are not far ahead in the first half, they’ll get beat in the second,” he said.
The Reed family prides themselves in their devotion to the Scarlet and Gray football team. The games are more than just a Saturday television encounter.
“We do a big family meal in conjunction with the game, normally,” said Troy. “We always have a big spread of wings, jalapeño poppers and cheese sticks and all that junkie fried food you’re probably not supposed to have.”
“The kids look forward to that now,” he added.
The Ohio State University has been in Troy and Denise’s lives since playing in the marching band in the nineties.
“For the better part of the last 25 years, every Saturday revolves around Ohio State football in the fall,” said Troy.
The rivalry game between the Buckeyes and Wolverines airs Saturday, Nov. 28 at noon Eastern Time.
“They (the Buckeyes) don’t really play the first half to their advantage. They got good defense but lack in offense. If they want to win, they got to do well in the first (half),” said Grant.
