Promising Parallels – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/29/1998 12:00:00 AM | Football
September 29, 1998
COLUMBUS, Ohio – By Dan Jones, OSU Athletic Communications
Four huge guys walk into a football stadium – Rodney Bailey, Joe Brown, Clinton Wayne, and Brent Johnson.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one.
Actually, without even knowing it, you probably have heard this one. Ohio State’s promising front defensive four – Brown and Wayne at tackle, Bailey and Johnson at end – are quick to draw eerie parallels to former Buckeyes that we’ve all heard of – Matt Finkes, Mike Vrabel, and Luke Fickell.
Like their predecessors, the current group started playing with each other as freshmen and sophomores. Like their predecessors, their work ethic is impeccable. Like their predecessors, they seem to be inseparable off the field as well as on.
Like their predecessors, opposing quarterbacks are quickly learning to hate them.
“I’d love to become as successful as that group,” Johnson said. “I would love to exceed what they did. That’s a tall order in itself, but that’s all you can shoot for. They set a level, and you want to get over that level.”
They may just be on their way. Bailey, Brown, and Wayne each earned starting positions by the end of last season, and Johnson got his first start this year against West Virginia. People praise the quartet for their attitude and sheer ability, but at this moment their biggest asset may be simply be the two letters following their name in the media guide – So. All four members of the defensive front for the No. 1 team in the nation are only sophomores.
“It’s great being a part of a group this young,” Wayne said. “A few years ago when Mike Vrabel and Finkes and Fickell played together for such a long time, it really showed by their senior year. Each of them knew what the other one was going to do. They covered each others back. When you get used to playing beside somebody, it makes your life a lot easier.”
Wayne’s life has been made a lot easier by Johnson, but not only on the field. Both players were the rare Canadian high school football star. They hail from Ontario – Wayne from Brampton and Johnson from Kingston – and live only about three hours from each other. High school football plays second fiddle to hockey at all levels in Canada, not drawing nearly as much support as prep football in the United States. The two admit that it was nice having someone else on the team – much less someone playing right next to you -that understood that. Johnson and Wayne were rated the top two players in all of Canada following their senior years. They had heard of each other at that time, but had never met. The bonding started when they arrived, and to this day they can usually be found sitting together at a team meal. “Having another Canadian on the team has helped a lot, especially when we first got here. We just kind of hit it off ever since then,” Johnson said.
Brown and Bailey’s story is similar now, but didn’t really start off as smoothly.
“At first, Joe didn’t like me that well because I was so jumpy and excited all the time” Bailey recalls laughing. “But that’s just how I am. He really knows what I’m about.”
“I’m always asking myself where he gets his energy,” Brown said of his fall camp roommate. “He’s always so hyper.”
You’re hard pressed to find Joe Brown without finding Rodney Bailey or vice versa. Strangely enough, you might have just as much difficulty finding two more opposite personalities. Brown comes across as a very quiet person that would rather keep to himself. His 6-6 frame is dwarfed by his mild-mannered persona. He seldom shows much emotion, even after fighting off an offensive lineman and dragging down a running back behind the line. Bailey, on the other hand, always wears a huge smile that could sell a bridge to someone in the desert. He’s one big ball of hyper-activity, and can usually be found trying to entertain anyone within earshot. “I tell jokes just to make myself laugh sometimes,” he said.
The one time when Bailey might show an ounce of serious demeanor is when he’s asked about Joe Brown the football player. A serious look, similar to the one that Brown always seems to wear, overtakes the million dollar smile. “He amazes me,” Bailey said. “I feed off his work ethic. When I first came here, I saw how hard he worked and told myself that he was the one that would make me a stronger player. You can feel when Joe Brown makes a play. He’s kind of quiet and doesn’t get as fired up as me, but when he makes a play, you can feel it.”
Jim Heacock, Ohio State’s defensive tackle coach, works specifically with Brown and Wayne. But like anyone, he sees where this front four can go from here.
“It’s a great group from an attitude and work ethic standpoint,” he said. “They work hard all day. They study film off the field. They improve on a daily basis. As they keep maturing, they’re just going to get better.”
According to Bailey, it’s no accident that Ohio State’s front defensive four travel in a herd. They learned from the pros.
“The more time we spend together, the more our group is defined,” he said. “We try to have that unity. That’s something that’s been going on here for several years with Vrabel and Finkes and Fickell. Those guys were always together, too.”
Comparing athletes can often be unfair, but with so many commonalties between these two groups, it’s hard to avoid it. With only three career starts behind him, Johnson sees the potential too.
“Those guys (the 1996 squad) did so well because they gelled. They were given time to play together and to learn the system. By their senior year, they were dominating. Hopefully, that’s how it will work for us.”
