ARLINGTON — Bowl season doesn’t only mark the beginning of the end of collegiate football in 2017, it’s the first steps of a disgruntled five-month trudge to another year of football.
Football fans in the Lone Star State — specifically those who are either in range of the 82nd annual Cotton Bowl or are making the travel to it and its headquarters at the Omni Hotel Dallas — may get “bang for their buck” when Ohio State and the University of Southern California touch down AT&T Stadium.
Of the 10 players on either team claiming Texas roots, the following are some of the more noticeable on the Buckeyes’ sideline:
1. J.T. Barrett (QB, Wichita Falls)
Arguably the biggest star of the 82nd Cotton Bowl, the multi-Heisman Trophy candidate has carved path from Wichita Falls, Texas to Columbus, Ohio — and possibly a first or second round draft pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
Since leading Wichita Falls Rider High School to a UIL Class 4A Division II state semifinal berth, Barrett has thrown for 9,309 yards 104 yards and 30 interceptions and ran for 3,208 yards and 41 touchdowns. When added to his last year as a Raider, he’s accumulated more than 14,000 yards and 160 touchdowns in five years.
2. Elijah Gardiner (WR, Kemp)
File photo courtesy the monitor.net
The former Kemp 6-foot-5 pass catcher finished his senior season as the 6-3A Division II All-District team after the 2017 season and became the third receiver in Ohio State’s 2017 recruiting class. Gardiner made the flip after taking an official visit to Ohio State and receiving an offer over the weekend.
Gardiner became the fifth Texan to commit to Ohio State in the 2017 recruiting cycle joining safety Jeffrey Okudah (South Grand Prairie), athlete J.K. Dobbins (La Grange), and linebacker Baron Browning (Kennedale) to enroll early at Ohio State.
3. Baron Browning (LB, Kennedale) and J.K. Dobbins (RB, LaGrange)
J.K. Dobbins ran for more than 150 yards and earned the Big Ten Title Game MVP. File photo by Stephen Spillman/TexasHSFootball
In 2016, Browning helped Kennedale High School helped reach the UIL Class 4A state semifinal for the first time in its history.
A year later, he watched the Wildcats reach the state championship and fall to Carthage in the final game of the year. Kennedale may make still make a season-ending splash, though, in the form of Browning — one of 14 true freshmen that played in 2017 — and the Buckeyes.
Browning will play in the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium. He missed the opportunity to play there after Kennedale fell one victory short of the UIL 4A state championship rounds. Photo courtesy Arlington Voice
Browning finished his senior season in North Texas with 75 tackles, three sacks, two fumble recoveries, and one interception. He has 13 tackles (7 solo) against Indiana, Maryland, Rutgers, and UNLV in his first collegiate season and after a March shoulder surgery that wiped away any chances of a head start to his career at the next level.
“He reinjured his shoulder,” Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said to ESPN. “I guess he hurt it a little bit in high school. … He’ll be out for a couple months and be full speed for the fall.”
Dobbins, who bolted for Ohio, left the UT like a jilted lover and spurned Baylor, TCU, and Texas A&M, , had a large measure of success at LaGrange High School after rushing form more than 3,000 yards and scoring more 50 touchdowns as a Leopard.
Welcomed by Ohio State Head Coach Urban Meyer, Dobbins has been one of the most electric players in the last three weeks of college football. Dobbins was the Buckeyes’ Big Ten Championship Game MVP after rushing for 174 yards in Ohio State’s 27-21 win over Wisconsin.
4. Demetrius Knox (OL, FW All Saints Episcopal)
Chuck Cook/USA TODAY Sports
A year earlier, the 6-foot-4 and 308-pound former Fort Worth All Saints Episcopal star offensive lineman missed eight weeks after breaking his foot — the second time in consecutive years — in 2016.
He stands to play one of the biggest games of his collegiate career at AT&T Stadium — a stone’s throw away from his high school. It will also be as a starter, despite being thrown into the fray after a rash of injuries and rebounding from his own.
“It’s about eight, 10 minutes from my house,” Knox said to The Columbus Dispatch. “I’m excited about it.”
And especially since he wasn’t the first choice for the right guard spot vacated by Billy Price, who moved to center, and Branden Bowen won the job. Midway through the season and after Bowen suffered a season-ending broken leg, Knox watched Matt Burrell go in as the immediate reliever.
Over the next week of practice, Knox had taken sole position in the offensive trenches and re-established himself as the Buckeyes’ starting guard.
“Just basically what it’s like to be out there with the bright lights. It’s time. You’ve got to go,” Knox said. “When this year came around, I had to start. It’s time to go.”
5. Jeffrey Odukah (CB, South Grand Prairie)
Photo courtesy Focus Daily News
Okudah, a five-star cornerback from South Grand Prairie, has taken a different road to possible college football — special teams. And the Buckeyes win the coin flip and defer to take the ball in the second half the former Warrior can earn the game’s first tackle.
Like Knox, Okudah’s stomping grounds in Grand Prairie are in earshot of air traffic screaming across the Dallas Skyline. Nine miles to be exact.
“It’s going to be hard to contain all that energy,” Okudah said about playing in Texas for the first time since high school. “But I would also look at it as a great opportunity to exert that energy on somebody else.”
By honing his skill as a special teams ace, he’s also following the the path of Gareon Conley, a 2017 first-round NFL Draft pick of the Oakland Raiders, and Denzel Ward, the Buckeyes’ 5-foot-10, hard-hitting junior starting cornerback that was tasked with covering 6-foot-6 Wisconsin tight end Troy Fumagalli during the Big Ten title game.
Marcus Matthews-Marion is the managing editor of TexasHSFootball, covering prep football throughout the Lone Star State. Follow him on Twitter,@RealMarcMarion, and read more of his content here.
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