| 26 January 2012
February 6, 2004. I remember being a kid and walking through my house on that day, and seeing my dad reading through the newspaper. My dad was on the sports page, the most interesting page to me other than the comics page which I perused through often when my dad was done with the paper. The feature article of that day, however, was no laughing matter, and one that still troubles me to this day. Mario Manningham, star receiver from Warren G. Harding High School in Warren, Ohio, had committed to play for TSUN as a junior. I was shocked. Although I’m not from Warren, I liked to follow their football program (My alma mater was more of a basketball school) and seeing Manningham, a player who could have easily stayed at home and played for my beloved Buckeyes, a player that lived 20 minutes away, who was a star athlete and hometown hero commit to play for That State Up North left me dazed and confused. I had been following the situation closely, I knew that Ohio State was very interested, and why not? A Four star prospect in high school, Manningham was a small but speedy receiver with quickness and agility that could make you fall out of your shoes. Put on top of that the talent that northeast Ohio had pumped down to Columbus (Warfield, Gradishar, DeCree just to name a few) in the past and it seemed like the perfect situation. But on that day I learned a tough lesson, not all Ohio boys grow up wanting to play for Ohio State.
As I read further into it, Manningham had stated he grew up a fan of the Wolverines, and his relationship with former Harding Raider and then Wolverine Prescott Burgess only strengthened the bond he had with Ann Arbor. At the time I also thought that he favored TSUN for their style of offense as, Coach Carr was friendlier with the forward pass than coach Tressel, but I later found out that that wasn’t the only reason. Mario had found something in the Wolverine program, culture and school that he didn’t find in Columbus. Whether it was a deep rooted need to be different from those Buckeye fans around him or just to play football I’m not the one to say, all I know is it still confuses me to this day why ANY player from Ohio who had the opportunity to do so, would not play for Ohio State. But of course he wasn’t the only one to defect to the nether regions north of the great state of Ohio, and to take a quote from the movie “Thor”: The house of Odin is full of traitors”, thus can be said for the State of Ohio, so let’s take a look at some of the high profile players that scorned the Scarlet and Gray for the Maize and Blue.
Cleveland has had its ups and its downs in sports. From the dominance of the Browns led by legendary Ohioan football coach Paul Brown to The Drive, The Fumble, Red Right 88, The ‘97 World Series, The Shot, The Move, and most recently The Decision. The Cleveland area has also been plagued by defectors to TSUN starting with legendary Wolverine quarterback Benny Friedman, considered by many to be the games first great passer.
Sticking with quarterbacks is Elvis Grbac, though not a big name now, Grbac was an all Big Ten passer who led TSUN to two Rose Bowls while throwing to fellow Clevelander and 1991 Heisman Trophy winning wide receiver Desmond Howard. Though neither would find similar success in the pros, both opened the doors for others in the area to jump ship to TSUN, such as 1997 Heisman Trophy winning cornerback and return specialist Charles Woodson.
These players (excluding Friedman) I believe were the result of poor recruiting efforts by John Cooper, who had trouble beating TSUN in his career, and never established strong recruiting bonds within the state of Ohio. And so we come to the latest defector to TSUN, a five star recruit who was at one time a solid Buckeye commit. I’m sure you are all familiar with his story:
Kid grows up Buckeye fan, commits to play for Buckeyes, controversy strikes program, gets scared and runs away to the chubby embrace of the new leader of the Maize and Blue. Kyle Kalis honestly made me sick to my stomach (and still does) when he made it official that he was committing to TSUN. I remember reading about how he had grew up a fan and how this was his dream, but obviously we see how things can change quickly. Now it is understandable, the excuse he gave was legitimate - he didn’t want to be punished for crimes he didn’t commit - he didn’t want to be involved with a program in turmoil, blah blah blah etc. I just couldn’t grasp the concept of leaving your childhood team for its biggest rival, and it’s something that I will never fully understand, and something that I will never forgive him or any other Ohioan who leaves these borders for TSUN for.
Other notable Wolverines who can lay claim to Ohioan status are current NFL coaches John and Jim Harbaugh, Former Wolverine coach and former Buckeye linebacker Gary Moeller and NFL hall of famers Dan Dierdorf and Tom Mack. I’m always proud (for the most part) to associate myself with fellow Ohioans, even if they did go to TSUN.
As we move ever closer to National Signing Day, we can take a look at TSUN’s 2012 class. This class is chock full of Ohioans from fellow northeast Ohioans Tom Strobel (Mentor), Jarrod Wilson (Akron) and Kyle Kalis (Lakewood), to Joe Bolden (Cincinnati), Kaleb Ringer (Clayton), Christopher Wormley (Toledo), Allen Gant (Sylvania) and AJ Williams (Cincinnati). I know they all have their reasons for choosing to hop the border, and I know that that may not seem like much, but that’s about eight more than I would like to see in the winged helmets this fall. I’ll give a hand to Coach Brady Hoke (Dayton native), he knows how to manipulate and sleeze with the best of them. It boils my blood to see Ohioans leave for TSUN, but it’s not like there hasn’t been the same both ways.
We can call Buckeyes Craig Krenzel, Vernon Gholston, Jonathan Hankins and Taurian Washington native Michiganians. And you can include the saga of the Boren Family, of how Columbus native Mike Boren spurned Ohio State and Woody Hayes for TSUN and Bo Schembechler and became their 6th all time leading tackler at linebacker with 212 tackles. How his son Justin committed to play under former coach Lloyd Carr, but left under the shadow of Rich Rodriguez for Ohio State, and how the younger Boren brothers Zach and 2012 commit Jacoby followed.
There has always been a give and take between the two states and universities and always will. I will always be mad when an Ohioan defects north, but at the same time it does give me a sense of pride all the same, because I know if it weren’t for those Ohioans, Michigan would not be the program it is today. If it weren’t for the state of Michigan’s inability to churn out top notch high school talent every year, they wouldn’t have to raid Ohio all the time (I’ll give them credit for Jake Long, Braylon Edwards, LaMarr Woodley and the aforementioned Buckeyes). If it weren’t for Youngstown native Fitzgerald Touissant (a guy I played against in high school), TSUN might not have won last November, if it weren’t for the likes of Barberton native Bo Schembechler, who knows where Wolverine football would be today, and if it weren’t for others like Kyle Kalis, Mike Boren and family, we wouldn’t have such intriguing story lines.
The blood might not run as hot, the rivalry might not have the same edge, The Game might not mean as much, and it wouldn’t be good for anybody. That is what makes this rivalry great - the passion, and the love/hate relationship that consumes all who get taken by it. It’s the chants of “Go Blue” and the “O-H!” with an “I-O!” soon to follow. And so to take a line from a favorite movie of mine, Jerry Maguire: “You complete me”. That is how these programs are, and always will be, and I cannot wait until November 24, 2012, when the Buckeyes reclaim their pride and glory in the Shoe under Urban Meyer.
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