{"id":243726,"date":"2025-10-22T14:37:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T14:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/243726\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T14:37:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T14:37:07","slug":"inside-the-scoop-and-score-buckeyes-relive-jack-sawyers-cotton-bowl-heroics-in-an-excerpt-from-buckeye-brotherhood-by-bill-rabinowitz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/243726\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the Scoop-and-Score: Buckeyes Relive Jack Sawyer\u2019s Cotton Bowl Heroics in an Excerpt from Buckeye Brotherhood by Bill Rabinowitz"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFriend of the site Bill Rabinowitz has a new book out \u2014 Buckeye Brotherhood: How Ohio State Navigated a New World to Win a National Championship<\/a> \u2014 a definitive, behind-the-scenes look at Ohio State\u2019s 2024 title run.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWe\u2019re thrilled to share an exclusive excerpt of Chapter 26, \u201cScoop and Sawyer,\u201d which dives into the moment that helped send the Buckeyes to the national championship: Jack Sawyer\u2019s unforgettable fumble return against Texas in the College Football Playoff semifinals.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tRabinowitz, who also authored The Chase, once again brings unmatched reporting and insight to one of the most memorable seasons in program history.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tJack Sawyer said the play call was \u201cFlorida.\u201d Jim Knowles said it was \u201cDisney.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe play on fourth-and-goal from the 8 called for a linebacker to serve as a spy to protect against Ewers scrambling. That meant Sawyer was free to rush without worrying about anything but getting to the quarterback. Cody Simon was the spy. He stepped toward the line of scrimmage across from the Texas right guard. That prevented the guard from double-team- ing Sawyer with right tackle Cameron Williams.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m thinking I\u2019m going to get off the ball as fast as I can and see where the tackle is at by my second step,\u201d Sawyer said. \u201cIf he\u2019s slow off the ball, I\u2019m going to try to continue outside. If he jumps quick, I\u2019m going to go inside because we\u2019ve got the freedom to do so in this defense.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWilliams, who missed the CFP quarterfinals with a sprained knee, was slow out of his stance, so Sawyer went to the outside. He swiped at Williams\u2019 hands, causing Williams to lose his balance and lunge forward. Sawyer had a clear path to Ewers, who never saw him coming. Sawyer hit the quarterback, jarring the ball free.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s funny when you\u2019re playing,\u201d Sawyer said, \u201cand you have these subconscious thoughts constantly. In this moment, I\u2019m thinking, \u2018Man, I hope his arm wasn\u2019t going forward so it\u2019s incomplete, but I\u2019m going to pick it up and run.\u2019 I\u2019m just trying to locate the ball.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe ball floated to the turf and serendipitously bounced right back to Sawyer at the 17-yard line. He took off running down the Ohio State sideline, with Ryan Day and others sprinting along gleefully. Texas running back Quintrevion Wisner reacted quickly and was only five yards behind Sawyer when he picked up the ball. But Sonny Styles, gifted both physically and mentally, made an overlooked play. Styles had been cover- ing Wisner and was four yards behind him when Sawyer scooped up the ball. But Styles sprinted past Wisner, got in front of him, and then slowed down to serve as a shield.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019d say I\u2019m a pretty fast dude, but there\u2019s a little bit of an urgency when those plays happen,\u201d Styles said. \u201cIt\u2019s like when someone breaks a tackle and hits another gear. That was almost like one of those, where you just hit another gear and find a way to make it happen.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tStyles said all of OSU\u2019s players, defensive as well as offensive, are coached to simply get in the way of a potential tackler in that situation rather than risk being flagged for a crackback block.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s just cutting someone off,\u201d Styles said. \u201cThe whole point is to show the ref, \u2018Hey, I\u2019m not blindside blocking him. I\u2019m not holding him.\u2019 It\u2019s really just trying to avoid a penalty. The guy trying to tackle him is not in a position to make a play, so there\u2019s no need to block him. You\u2019ve just got to get in his way, so he doesn\u2019t catch him.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWilliams was the only other pursuer, and he wasn\u2019t going to catch Sawyer, who by then had a convoy of Simon, J.T. Tuimoloau, and Jordan Hancock as well as Styles as he ran 83 yards through the heart of Texas to the end zone.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAs Sawyer ran, he had a flashback of Will Howard and the stumble he had on the fourth-down conversion. \u201cI was thinking, \u2018Don\u2019t fall, don\u2019t get caught from behind, and if I do get caught, tuck that ball up and don\u2019t give it back,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI was telling myself the whole way that someone\u2019s coming to knock it out. Someone is going to try to punch this ball out. As I\u2019m looking, I see coach Hartline pointing. My favorite memory as a Buckeye, besides winning the national championship, is when I look back and all I see is Cody, J.T., Jordan, and Sonny all running with their hands up. It was a feeling I\u2019m never going to forget.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen he scored, an exhausted Sawyer dropped the ball to the ground. He had no memory of what he did with the ball. \u201cAt that point, it was such a blur,\u201d Sawyer said. \u201cIt was a blackout moment.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHe got to the sideline and all he wanted was something to drink. \u201cI got as much water as I could,\u201d Sawyer said.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHe barely had time to drink it. Larry Johnson gave him a big hug and sprayed him with water. The play and the adrenaline from it wiped Sawyer out. \u201cI\u2019ve never felt my heart beat that fast or be so out of breath as I was after that play,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n

\t\"Buckeye<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tIn the moment, Sawyer didn\u2019t realize what an iconic play he\u2019d made. \u201cI was just thankful God put me in position to help the team,\u201d he said. \u201cIt didn\u2019t really sink in to me until afterwards. Obviously, my parents and my sister and everyone had a mix of emotions\u2014so happy for the team and for myself. It was such a great experience. The ball bounced right to me. My teammates blocked their asses off the whole way. It was one of the most special moments I\u2019ve ever had.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tSimon retrieved the ball in the end zone and gave it to a coach who saved it for Sawyer. He gave it to his parents for safe keeping. \u201cIt\u2019s proba- bly locked up somewhere,\u201d he said. \u201cI hope so.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n\tMichelle Sawyer, his mom, said months later that it was just sitting on their kitchen counter. Jack had even tossed it around on his visits home from training for the NFL draft.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tTHE PLAY BECAME instantly iconic. Months later, those on the Ohio State side remembered the play as if it had just happened. Here are their recollections:\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\tRyan Day
In your mind, you\u2019re saying to yourself, \u201cAre they going to go for it here or not?\u201d They do. So now I\u2019m thinking, \u201cIf we got the stop here, the ball\u2019s going to be inside the 10-yard line. What do we do? What do we have for runs coming out?\u201d Or they score a touchdown and now we\u2019ve got to go down and kick a field goal to win the game. You\u2019re going through all the scenarios in your head.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t[Jim Knowles] called a double coverage that really hadn\u2019t run much all year. I think it forced Ewers to kind of double-clutch. Then as he got flushed, I saw Jack tracking him. As he made the play, you watched the ball bounce right up into Jack\u2019s hands. That\u2019s the bounce I feel we hadn\u2019t gotten in the past.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tOnce he scooped it up and ran, Cody Simon and Sonny Styles made great plays to turn that play from a scoop where it gets returned for 20 or 30 yards into a touchdown. When that hap- pened, I knew we were going to win the national championship.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tI said to Jack [on the sideline], \u201cYou just became a legend!\u201d We had talked before the game about how you become a legend. You become your own legacy by leaving something behind. How do you do that? By making a play like that is obviously how you become a legend.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tJim Knowles
We\u2019re going to line up in a variety of funky ways with the linebackers up and with the safeties and corners in different positions, so they don\u2019t know what we\u2019re in.\u00a0\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tJ.T. comes inside to the left so that if he\u2019s going to scramble, you\u2019re going to force the quarterback to his left. Cody is actually using up the guard next to Jack. He kind of pretends to rush. I call it a hypnotized technique on the guard, to kind of hypnotize the guard so the guard can\u2019t help out with Jack. That let Jack rush out, so if he\u2019s going to go to his left, Cody\u2019s going to hit the guard, and then eventually if he would have broken out to the left, Cody would have looped around.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tIt\u2019s the culmination of a lot of work. I would say, \u201cCoverage and rush,\u201d and the whole defense would say, \u201cWorking together.\u201d It was the culmination of a lot of work and of that winning edge
of, \u201cOkay, if we make the quarterback hold the ball, don\u2019t give him any easy throws and show him something he\u2019s not expecting, then the rush will be able to deliver.\u201d\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tAnd then, of course, you\u2019ve got all those years of work, of Jack and Larry and all those drills and everything that go into it, of him really being perfect\u2014everything he\u2019s worked on for four years coming down to one play.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tLarry Johnson
Cody walked into the gap, so he got the attention of the tackle. The tackle didn\u2019t know where he\u2019s coming from or where Jack is coming from. The tackle looked at Cody and then put his eyes back on Jack, but by that time Jack had a great get-off and hit his hands out with what we call a side scissors move. Then he had a burst to finish. You don\u2019t get a sack going the same speed. When he got there, the ball was back. He was looking to hit the wrist, hand on ball, to have a chance to get a sack fumble.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tAnd then how lucky that the ball bounced back into his hands. It was just a perfect bounce. That\u2019s all God. But it\u2019s some- thing Jack has done over and over again [in practice]. It\u2019s just repetition. And then you get in the game, and you get one shot, one moment to recall those skills. That\u2019s what Jack did, recalling something he\u2019s done over and over again. He remembered all those little things to make that play happen. To me, that\u2019s what makes it special.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tIt was a checkmate play. That\u2019s when you knew God was with this team. It\u2019ll be a play that we will all talk about for the rest of our lives.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tSonny Styles
As soon as he ran through the end zone, it was like, \u201cOh, my gosh. What did he just do? No way he made that play.\u201d It was almost like I was in disbelief, which I\u2019m sure a lot of people across the country were, too. It was a shell-shocking moment for me.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tCody Simon
My only job is to make sure that guard cannot double-team Jack or the defensive tackle, but it\u2019s usually the end, so the end can get a free rush. I\u2019m technically a spy. I\u2019m not going to take any credit for the play, but it\u2019s 11 guys all doing our job so Jack could make probably the greatest play in Buckeye history. I\u2019ve got the guard, making sure he can\u2019t double and then I\u2019m wrapping around for the quarterback. Once I saw Jack free, I\u2019m like, \u201cOh my gosh, this is going to be a big play right here.\u201d\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tJ.T. Tuimoloau
I got moved down to 3-tech. I did a spin move on the guard and was like, \u201cOK, I think I can get this.\u201d And then I see another red jersey. I\u2019m like, \u201cDamn, who is this?\u201d and I see it\u2019s Jack. Oh, he got the sack. Then I saw it was a forced fumble and I\u2019m thinking we\u2019ve got to pick this up. Once it bounced to him, and he was off and running, the last thing we want is for him to get hawked down. He had it happen to him in the Up North game. Once we got to the 50-yard line, I was like, \u201cI\u2019m already here. I might as well run all the way,\u201d and I ended up sprinting just out of excitement and passion. Never again will I run that far. That was the dagger of the whole thing. I was like, \u201cThis has to be the greatest play in Buckeye history.\u201d\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tChip Kelly
We were just talking like we normally do at the end of a game about a two-minute plan [to score] or a four-minute plan to run out the clock]. When the ball bounced out, I was obviously excited about the play, but selfishly, I was like, \u2018I don\u2019t want to deal with a four-minute offense, so I said, \u201cScore!\u201d and he\u2019d only taken like two steps. Keenan [Bailey] looked at me and said, \u201cWhat?\u201d I said he\u2019s going to score. It wasn\u2019t like I was cheering him on. I was like, \u201cHe has to score. We don\u2019t need to go back on the field offensively.\u201d Then he got to about the 25-yard line and I was like, \u2018He actually may score on this thing.\u201d I didn\u2019t think when he first picked it up that he was going to go the distance. But our guys just took off after him and there was nobody on Texas anywhere near him. I was like, \u201cHe actually is going to score. Holy shit.\u201d Because it was Jack and everything about Jack is awesome, it was so cool that he could finish off that game that way.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tRoss Bjork
At different places I\u2019ve been when there\u2019s been a key play, sometimes I\u2019ll just go stand behind the bench and put my head down. I was like, I\u2019m going to go back there and just pray. I put my head down and said, \u201cGod, just put us in the best position.\u201d I have my head down and I hear the crowd, and I\u2019m thinking we just stopped them on fourth down. I kept my eyes closed and the crowd just starts getting louder and louder. Then I open my eyes and walk toward the sideline, and I see Jack walking into the end zone. President Carter and I jump up and down and grab each other. Carey Hoyt, our deputy AD for football, and I are hugging each other. Logan Hittle was down there. A couple of former players and my son Paxton was there, and I\u2019m like, \u201cWhat happened? How did he get the ball?\u201d I had no idea he got by his guy, stripped him, and picked it up.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tCaleb Downs
On fourth down, they motioned to a stack on the boundary. Somebody had to make a call, and I was like, \u201cLet\u2019s play triangle on my side,\u201d which is a three-over-two stack on defense. They tried to isolate me. I thought he was going to throw the ball at me. But I covered my guy up pretty well, and then I turn around and see captain Jack make the best play I\u2019ve seen in my life. That was a crazy moment for me just watching that. (There\u2019s a photo of Downs dropping to his knees in the end zone and praying.) That was a miracle, and I had to thank God in that moment for that. I\u2019m like, \u201cGod, nobody could have foreseen that play happening, so thank you, thank you, thank you.\u201d\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tMitchell Melton
I was on the sideline. I had seen that move from him countless times. I used to call it his patented move because whenever he would get into the rhythm of the game, he would hit that move. I know that because me and him would watch hours and hours of film in preparation for all those teams that we played. It was like a T.J. Watt sack. I was standing there next to either KJ [Kenyatta Jackson] or Kayden [McDonald]. And I saw him hit the move on No. 56 and I literally said in my head, \u201cSack.\u201d Literally after that, it was a blur. I\u2019ve never been a part of such pandemonium in my life.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tDo you ever just find yourself in a moment where you don\u2019t think it\u2019s real? And instead of enjoying it, you\u2019re just questioning it. I was like, there\u2019s no way this is real. There\u2019s no way this is happening. And then I see the score and I see him [get a] touchdown and I see the replay, and I\u2019m just shocked. But I couldn\u2019t have been happier for him because he was literally the catalyst. He was one of the main motivators that literally rallied this team together after everything that happened. So just to see that for him and to see him accomplish that moment on one of the biggest stages and be immortalized in Buckeye history, it was awesome.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tLathan Ransom
I was in coverage on that play. [Ewers] looked into the boundary, to our way. I think that me, IGB, and Caleb did a great job covering up in the boundary to where he didn\u2019t have a quick throw. Then Jack won so fast off the line and made the tackle look silly. I just remember running behind and just so happy, so excited, so in disbelief. Whenever we needed a big play like that, Jack came through. I was happy to watch from afar because I couldn\u2019t catch up to him, I was so tired.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tJosh Fryar
I was sitting on the bench right next to Gee Scott and I was holding his hand, and I think I was holding Tegra\u2019s hand to the left of me. I was saying to myself, \u201cPlease, God. Give us an opportunity. Just give us a chance.\u201d He gave us one. Jack came around the edge, double swipe-barred the right tackle, and then the ball popped out and popped right in his hands, and he started running. I just sat there in awe, just watching it happen. As the field goal unit was running out [for the extra-point kick], I was still sitting on the bench. Then I was like, \u201cOh shit, I\u2019ve got to go out for field goal,\u201d and I started sprinting out there. It was crazy. It felt like a made-up story.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t(Fryar blocked against Sawyer often in practice. He gave his perspective on how Sawyer beat Williams on the play.)\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tHe punched with two hands against Jack, and Jack\u2019s really good about swiping. He punched so far that he leaned forward where you\u2019re imbalanced and your weight is over your toes, so you can\u2019t get back into a good body position to push Jack by the quarterback. You want to push him by the quarterback by having your hands out and head out. Then if Jack swipes your hands, you still have your feet to recover against him. But that guy, he had his weight over his toes, and he was leaning so far to where he couldn\u2019t recover. And then Jack popped that ball out and scored.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tWe\u2019ve gone against each other a shit ton in practice, and he might\u2019ve gotten me once or twice on that specific move out of hundreds of reps because I know he\u2019s a hand swiper.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tDonovan Jackson
The offensive line, we were busy drawing up plays because we though we were going to have a four-minute situation where we had to drive down the field and probably score late. So we were drawing up plays, and we look up at the giant Jerry World Jumbotron, and I see Jack dip around the right tackle. I was like, \u201cOh, that\u2019s a sack.\u201d I saw the ball bounce right to him. I was like, \u201cOh my gosh, he\u2019s gone.\u201d And then we started losing all our minds.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tTegra Tshabola
I probably had the best view to it because I was just a little bit behind them [on the sideline]. I\u2019m watching Jack get in the stance, and I knew exactly what he was going to do. The tackle from Texas ends up reaching and bending at the waist. He hits a chop around the corner and he bends the corner and I\u2019m watching him like he\u2019s running towards me. I\u2019m like frozen at this point. Oh, man. He\u2019s about to sack him, maybe a sack fumble, and then we\u2019ve got the ball, and we get to go back in. But he hits him, and the ball hits the ground, and it might\u2019ve been the most perfect bounce I\u2019ve ever seen. It bounced right in his hands, almost like a basketball. I\u2019m like, \u201cOkay, he might get some yardage out of this.\u201d And then I see Sonny start to get in front of the running back and block him. I\u2019m like, \u201cWait, he\u2019s going to house it?\u201d I was basically frozen watching that whole thing. I didn\u2019t jump up and down. I didn\u2019t do anything. I was just frozen and looking around me. I was almost caught in shock.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tDavison Igbinosun
I had my eyes in the backfield. I saw Jack stripping and I saw Jack pick it up. I\u2019m like, \u201cThank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus.\u201d I feel like Jack deserved that play because if you remember the game against Team Up North, Jack caught a pick. That was a big-time moment, but because we ended up losing, nobody showed it love, so him doing it against Texas was the culmination.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tCarson Hinzman
We\u2019re all sitting on the O-line bench and just got cold rags on our heads. [On the first three plays of the goal-line stand] I\u2019m like, \u201cI can\u2019t look.\u201d Then I was like, \u201cAll right, well, maybe I\u2019ll look for this last play.\u201d Thankfully, I did, because that was pretty cool. I take my wet rag, and I throw it right in the face of someone who\u2019s like the closest fan to us. I can\u2019t even remember if they were from Texas or not. I was running on the field hugging everybody. It was crazy. I think Hero [Kanu] punched me in the chest so hard. I was like, \u201cWhoa, whoa, whoa.\u201d But that was a pretty cool experience.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tMickey Marotti
Fourth-and-8, I\u2019m like, \u201cThere\u2019s no way they\u2019re going to score.\u201d I just felt we had \u2019em. I was standing on the 20, and I\u2019m like, \u201cOh shit, he\u2019s going to sack him.\u201d And the ball bounced right back to [Sawyer]. That never happens to us. It always bounces out of bounds or we miss the [critical] field goal or [Jeff ] Okudah strips the guy [in the 2019 Clemson game] and it\u2019s not [ruled] a fumble. We don\u2019t get calls [or breaks] ever. Never! Never! I\u2019m like, \u201cOh my God, he\u2019s got the ball. It\u2019s in his hands and he\u2019s taking off.\u201d I kept looking for a flag because we always get a flag.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tJayden Fielding
I hadn\u2019t gone in the game in probably 20 or 30 minutes of real time, so I had my helmet off. I was warming up because it\u2019s late in the fourth quarter and I\u2019ve got to get ready to maybe kick a game-winning field goal. I\u2019m not even looking at the field. Then I just hear this [hush sound] and then the roar of the crowd. I look up and Jack is running down the sideline, and I start running. And then I\u2019m like, \u201cOh shit, I\u2019ve got to go in the game\u201d for the extra point. So I had to run all the way back down the sideline, grab my helmet, and run all the way back. I had to catch my breath. I was telling Joe [McGuire, the holder], \u201cWe\u2019re going to the national championship! We\u2019re going to the national championship game.\u201d And he\u2019s like, \u201cBreathe. You\u2019ve got to make the extra point.\u201d\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t(Fielding\u2019s extra point made it 28\u201314. Caleb Downs had an interception on Texas\u2019 final possession to ice the victory.)\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tIt was a crazy moment. That was the best play on defense that I think I\u2019ve ever seen.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tLuke Montgomery
I think all of us on the offensive line were holding hands on the bench. When we were looking at the big screen and saw the strip sack, we all stood up as fast as any fat guys could stand up and started running down the field with them, us 300-pound big boys.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tAfter the play, I was on the kicking team, and I saw Pat McAfee behind the end zone. Everyone has a picture of me throwing the \u201cHorns down\u201d after that play. I wasn\u2019t doing it to the Texas fans. I was actually doing it to Pat McAfee because I know he picked Oregon over us the game before.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tRJ Day
I was on the opposite 30-yard line on the sideline looking up at the Jumbotron. I held my breath when they snapped the ball. I saw Jack break, and I saw the ball pop out, and I looked down to see it in real time. I just saw him running, and I started jumping up and down with tears coming down my face because I knew in my heart that Notre Dame wasn\u2019t as good as Texas was.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tEverything that happened leading up to that point \u2014 all the hardships, everything that we had to go through \u2014 just came back in that moment as I saw him run into the end zone. I looked for my mom and I just started punching the air, looking at her, and she\u2019s crying. And I looked to my dad and he\u2019s jumping up and down. It was just a full circle moment for everything that we had gone through.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tNina Day
I\u2019m in the crowd in the first row. When he hit Quinn, I turned around and put my hands in my face. I was sitting with Matt Dufour, who\u2019s one of Ryan\u2019s best friends from back home, my best friend. His father was my dad\u2019s assistant coach for 40-plus years and he\u2019s like family to us. I just fell into his arms and didn\u2019t see the play at all. Everyone was screaming and I was just asking, \u201cIs there a flag? Is there a flag?\u201d So I never saw it. I could see what was about to happen and I thought, \u201cI can\u2019t watch.\u201d There\u2019s a picture of me in the stands with my back turned and my head down in my hands.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tWhen he got into the end zone, I started jumping up and down. I have a soft spot for Jack. I always have. I remember sitting in the stands at a basketball game with him when he was still in high school, and we were sharing Swedish Fish and just talking. After the natty, he\u2019s like, \u201cFrom now on, you\u2019re aunt Nina and he\u2019s uncle Ryan.\u201d He\u2019ll always be family.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tWill Howard
I had my head in a Gatorade towel and my head in my hands. As the ball got snapped, I looked up and I see Jack tearing off the side. Quinn slides to the left a little and then I see Jack hit him, and the ball popped out. I immediately jumped up, put my hands in the air, and started screaming. He\u2019s carrying the ball down the sideline, and I just started losing my fucking mind. I don\u2019t know what noises were coming out of me, but I was screaming bloody murder. I\u2019m going crazy, jumping up and down, yelling, \u201cRun, Jack! Go, Jack!\u201d It was one of the craziest feelings of my life. It was just the adrenaline pumping through me.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tWhen I came over to the sideline and started screaming at him, and that video went viral of me shaking him. I think I said, \u201cAre you fucking kidding? Let\u2019s fucking go, man!\u201d I was talking to Jack the other night, and he said he has no memory of what I said. He just knows I was going crazy in his face.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tQuinshon Judkins
It was a surreal feeling. It almost felt like it wasn\u2019t real. I just remember running down the sideline, screaming at my teammates and all of us were just jumping full of joy. It was a once-in-a- lifetime experience. We\u2019re just screaming, like, \u201cWe\u2019re going to the national championship!\u201d That\u2019s just the moment that you dream of, when I revert back to when it was snowing and it\u2019s cold and you\u2019re sitting in that car with Will Howard [after first transferring] and we were like, \u201cLet\u2019s go fucking do this shit.\u201d To foreshadow that to where we were at that point, it was like, \u201cWow, we actually did it.\u201d It\u2019s crazy. We\u2019re at where we want to be and on track and the sky\u2019s the limit. To witness that and be a part of it and help contribute to it, it\u2019s something I\u2019ll always remember.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tBuckeye Brotherhood<\/a>\u00a0by Bill Rabinowitz is out now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Friend of the site Bill Rabinowitz has a new book out \u2014 Buckeye Brotherhood: How Ohio State Navigated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-243726","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}