Wednesday was National Signing Day for college football, albeit nowhere near as dramatic as it used to be with most players taking advantage of the early signing period.
Ohio State has the consensus second-best class in the country. The Buckeyes were runner-up to Alabama, just like in the national championship game.
It may take a few seasons to know if Virginia tailback TreVeyon Henderson, Washington receiver Emeka Egbuka, Texas lineman Donovan Jackson, Philadelphia quarterback Kyle McCord, or Pickerington North defensive end Jack Sawyer will become stars. But they have all the earmarks of stardom from their high school exploits.
In fact, ESPN rated Sawyer the top player in the country.
At one time Ohio State leaned heavily on its home state for the mother lode of its recruiting classes. Today the Buckeyes have a far bigger national reach as only 6 of 21 players in this class are Ohioans.
It got me to thinking about the best this state has produced, that didn’t become Buckeyes, including five Heisman Trophy winners. Here’s a quick swing at the 10 best Ohioans to escape the Buckeyes for their incomparable collegiate careers.
Let’s do this in chronological order:
1. Lineman Pete Henry was a 1914 Mansfield Srenior graduate who became a three-time All-American at Washington & Jefferson College. With no draft at the time, there was a free-agent frenzy to sign him. He became an All-Pro with the Canton Bulldogs, and is one of only eight men in the history of the sport to be a charter member of the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame, as well as the only Ohioan. Henry was voted the greatest lineman in all of football in the first half of the 20th century. I would argue this is the biggest miss in Ohio State history. No way Chic Harley loses a game if Pete Henry is creating holes in front of him at Ohio State.
2. Fullback Marion Motley, a 1939 Canton McKinley product, first attended South Carolina State and then Nevada. It’s hard to argue anything but racial prejudice by coach Francis Schmidt cost the Buckeyes a certain multi-year All-American. Motley is enshrined in Canton and was described as the greatest football player ever by Paul Zimmerman, the longtime dean of NFL reporting at Sports Illustrated. I would argue Motley is second only to Henry on the OSU miss list.
3. Quarterback/running back Frank Sinkwich is a 1939 Youngstown Chaney alum, won the Heisman Trophy while leading Georgia to a share of the 1942 national championship. He went on to become a two-time All-Pro with the Detroit Lions and was the 1944 NFL MVP.
4. Quarterback/running back Dick Kazmaier graduated from Maumee in 1949 and entered Princeton. He became the last Ivy League player to win the Heisman Trophy when he did it for the Tigers in 1951. Kaz was drafted by the Chicago Bears, but in a sign of the times rejected that offer to enter Harvard Business School. He embarked on a highly successful career outside of athletics.
5. Lineman Calvin Jones graduated from Steubenville in 1952 and triggered one of the wildest recruiting stories in Midwest history. Woody Hayes had him, but Jones jumped to Iowa to join his high school buddies in the days before scholarship signings. Big Cal became a two-time All-American for the Hawkeyes and a College Football Hall of Famer. Jones was tragically killed in a plane crash after playing in the Canadian Football League All-Star game following his rookie season.
6. Quarterback Len Dawson graduated from Alliance in 1953. We can count on one hand how many Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterbacks Ohio has produced, here’s one of them. In an unforgiveable gaffe, Dawson reported he was largely ignored on his recruiting visit to Columbus. So, he cast his lot with Purdue and started that school’s legacy of fine signal-callers. He was the MVP of Super Bowl IV for the Kansas City Chiefs before being enshrined in Canton.
7. Quarterback Roger Staubach graduated from Cincinnati Purcell in 1960. Woody tried, really hard, to recruit him. Mrs. Staubach said he must’ve spent a fortune on the phone bill. Roger visited Ohio State, and Woody charmed the parents per usual, but Staubach wanted to throw the football, and with Heisman runner-up Bob Ferguson at fullback, that wasn’t going to happen. So, Staubach won the Heisman as a junior at Navy and a Super Bowl MVP with the Dallas Cowboys. He is another College and Pro Football Hall of Famer. Staubach, Henry and Motley make up the Holy Trinity atop the list of Ohioans who got away from the Buckeyes.
8. Receiver Desmond Howard was a 1988 Cleveland St. Joseph graduate. I’m not sure John Cooper could have got him in his first year, but Howard certainly hurt the Buckeyes while earning All-American honors in Ann Arbor. His iconic Heisman pose in the end zone after ripping off a 93-yard punt return for a TD is forever burned in the memory of Ohio State fans. The 1991 Heisman Trophy winner at Michigan also has the distinction of being a Super Bowl MVP for the Green Bay Packers in 1997.
9. Cornerback Charles Woodson, of Fremont Ross, was a huge Michigan fan as a kid, largely due to the influence of his older brother. Woodson had a spectacular three-year career at Michigan, and lit up the Buckeyes in the process. He had three interceptions while earning three victories over Ohio State and returned a punt for a TD that accounted for the game-winning points in a 20-14 win over the Buckeyes in 1997. Woodson won the 1997 Heisman and was part of the 2010 Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers. He shares the NFL record with 13 defensive touchdowns and recorded 65 interceptions in his pro career. Woodson is a lock to be both a College and Pro Football Hall of Famer.
10. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, of Findlay, should’ve been Ohio’s 1999 Mr. Football. It’s the biggest travesty in the history of the award that it went to the utterly forgettable “Bam” Childress instead. Roethlisberger starred at Miami of Ohio after a huge recruiting miss by John Cooper. Big Ben went on to win two Super Bowls with the Pittsburgh Steelers and will certainly reach the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Obviously in a list like this there are many others that one could also mention, including Wooster running back Charles Follis (College of Wooster), Cleveland Glenville quarterback Bennie Friedman (Michigan), defensive lineman Alan Page of Canton Central Catholic (Notre Dame), Stow fullback Larry Csonka (Syracuse), Canton Glenwood offensive lineman Dan Dierdorf (Michigan), Warren Western Reserve defensive lineman Ross Browner (Notre Dame), linebacker Jack Lambert of Mantua Crestwood (Kent State), quarterback Bernie Kosar of Boardman (Miami of Florida), Westerville South running back Ki-Jana Carter (Penn State), Warren Harding receiver Mario Manningham (Michigan), Lakota West linebacker Jordan Hicks (Texas), Cincinnati Elder tight end Kyle Rudolph (Notre Dame), Springfield linebacker Trey DePriest (Alabama), and Fairfield offensive lineman Jackson Carman (Clemson).
Who were some of your favorite Ohio high school football players who never suited up for the Buckeyes?
Check out more on Ohio’s best high school football players in the books Ohio’s Autumn Legends, Volume I and II, available at Amazon.com.