As Good as it Gets – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/12/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 12, 2005
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Scan any national college football preseason outlook or “at-a-glance” capsule in a magazine and it does not take long to see their names. And when you see one, the other two are not far behind.
The same rule applies on the football field for Ohio State senior linebackers Bobby Carpenter, A.J. Hawk and Anthony Schlegel. See one and the other two are surely nearby. It is for that reason they have become household names in the Buckeye state and have led the OSU defense to a national Top 10 ranking in nearly every statistical category the last two seasons.
However, it is far away from the television lights and reporters where they have made themselves the athletes they are today and it is only there that their story can be completed. It is a story for which one of the final chapters is currently being written and today will unfold as they play their final game in Ohio Stadium.
How they came together to form what many consider the best linebacker corps in the nation is a story in itself. Carpenter, from Lancaster, Ohio, and Hawk, from Centerville, Ohio, grew up Buckeyes and have been friends and teammates for the past four years. Schlegel, though just as much a part of the bond the trio has together, is a native Texan who transferred to Ohio State after playing two seasons at the Air Force Academy. Carpenter and Hawk became friends even before they were Buckeyes. Their first face-to-face meeting came at the banquet for the Ohio North-South High School All-Star Game following their senior year. Rob Carpenter, Bobby’s father and a coach in the game, was among those at the banquet who acknowledged Hawk’s reputation preceded him.
“My dad told me to keep an eye on A.J., because he was going to be something special,” Carpenter said. “He said, `He’s going to be a good player, you can just tell.'”
And some might say, “the rest is history,” as Hawk’s well-publicized All-America honors and climb up the OSU career tackles chart continues. That is not nearly the whole story, though, because it is not complete without the three players together. They not only compliment each other on the field, they are a part of each other’s lives.
Carpenter and Hawk roomed together the week of practice before the all-star game, and it was then that one of their cooperative habits began.
“That week, every day after practice we would go lift,” Carpenter said. “That’s when it started and four and a half years later we still lift together after every practice.”
The media can wait. Dinner can wait. Their college football careers are in their twilight, but this day, like every day, Hawk and Carpenter walk to the weight room.
When Hawk and Carpenter arrived at Ohio State, the foundation of that future defensive core also included Mike D’Andrea, who the two speak of even before themselves. Injuries forced D’Andrea out of the lineup in parts of the last two seasons, but the arrival of Schlegel filled the gap.
Though D’Andrea, who has been granted another year of eligibility and will return in 2006, is just as much a part of the OSU linebacker corps as anyone else, it was Hawk and Carpenter who played a big part in getting Schlegel to become a Buckeye.
“When I came out to visit, A.J. was my host and we met up with Bobby,” Schlegel said of his trip to Ohio State after he had decided to leave the Academy. “Immediately I knew I wanted to play football with them. We are a lot alike and hit it off from the get-go. They accepted me right away and it has just been an awesome experience. Bonds like that are special.”
Their position coach, Luke Fickell, knows a thing or two about what excellence is all about. He started a school-record 50 consecutive games for the Buckeyes and has had the privilege of coaching OSU’s linebackers the last two years.
“They’re an unbelievable group,” Fickell said. “They’re smart and work hard. I don’t know if there is anything I can teach them. I mainly coach the young guys and tell them to watch the older guys because sometimes you learn more from watching the older guys do it.”
Without getting too much into the Xs and Os of the Buckeye defense, Schlegel occupies the middle, while Carpenter is over the tight end and Hawk is usually away from the strength of the formation where he can run and cover. Though they are at different spots, they look similar on the field, that much is for sure. To the casual observer, it might even take a television replay in slow motion to pick out which of the three of them just made the big hit.
Their personalities, however, are different all together. Carpenter is the extrovert, Hawk is the introvert and Schlegel is somewhere in between. Carpenter even still dresses up for Halloween – he not only dressed up as Ice Man from the movie “Top Gun” last year, he wore the outfit to the postgame interview room after Ohio State’s 21-10 win over Penn State. The bashful Hawk, on the other hand, is reserved and would rather spend a quiet evening at his apartment watching TV with his older brother, Ryan, than go to any college party.
Schlegel, who can be as rowdy as Carpenter but equally enjoys the quiet and solitude of a deer stand, is married to the girl he started dating in eighth grade. Recently, when asked in a lighthearted television interview which of the three of them was the ladies’ man, Schlegel replied, “Bobby’s got a girlfriend, A.J. is shy and I’m married, so it must be me because I’ve already sealed the deal.”
They are similar, however, not just in the fact they all have chosen to grow their hair out, but in that the Ohio State defense revolves around them.
Jim Heacock, OSU defensive coordinator, has seen these three young men mature on and off the field and develop into the heart of the Buckeye defense.
“They’re like coaches on the field,” Heacock said. “The one thing you don’t hear people talking about is their intelligence. They’re smart and able to adjust. They know the defense and they’re just good people. It’s nice to have guys like that, that you can mold everything around from the back end and allow you to do certain things up front.”
Together on the field their bond is perhaps as strong as any linebacker trio Ohio State has ever seen. Great Buckeye linebackers come to mind easily, like Chris Spielman, Randy Gradishar, Tom Cousineau, Andy Katzenmoyer, Marcus Marek and Pepper Johnson, but rarely has the OSU defense included three such gifted athletes on the field at the same time like the past two seasons.
Perhaps Jack Park, an Ohio State football historian, puts it in perspective best.
“Ohio State has had its share of great linebackers and everyone has their own opinion, but these three could be the best set OSU has had at the same time,” Park said. “To have three out there at the same time playing the way they do, you can make a strong argument they will be the best ever.”
Up until the current era, Park said, the best trio of Buckeye linebackers on the field at the same time would have been during the 1973 season, when Gradishar, Vic Koegel and Rick Middleton combined to lead an OSU defense that allowed just 43 points the entire regular season, which led the nation.
In 2005, the Buckeyes lead the nation in rushing defense, rank third in total defense and eighth in scoring defense. Not bad numbers in an era of high-powered offenses and a conference that features five of the Top 20 scoring teams in the nation.
“These three seniors play as a coordinated unit, they know what each other is doing and they have a good defensive line in front of them,” Park said.
Even the man calling the shots for the OSU defense said just about the same thing.
“They work well together and compliment each other,” Heacock said. “They are each a little different, but they play well together and work out together and are really close off the field, too.”
As their careers begin to move from the field into the pages of Buckeye football history, it is off the field where they will miss each other the most.
“Our time is running out here, but we’re not dwelling on it,” Hawk said. “We just want to make the most of it and make sure we come out every day and work hard. We want to enjoy our last few weeks together.”
It is understandable if these last few weeks are not the hot topic of conversation among the seniors and in particular these three.
“No one is really talking about that,” Carpenter said. “It’s kind of sad, though. We spent the last four years together, but it won’t be long before our lives go different directions.”
Considering how much their lives ran together the last few years, a significant change it will be. Not just for the three of them, but for the Buckeyes in 2006, as well, who will have big shoes to fill.
After all, they will not have one set of footprints to follow, but three.
