Ohio State’s New Jersey Natives Looking Forward To Playing At Rutgers

Perhaps they’ll get a bacon, egg and cheese bagel for breakfast on Saturday morning.

Ohio State has five players on its roster who played their high school football in the state of New Jersey, including senior defensive end Tyler Friday (Don Bosco Prep), redshirt junior defensive end Javontae Jean-Baptiste (Bergen Catholic), redshirt sophomore safety Ronnie Hickman (DePaul Catholic), redshirt freshman center Luke Wypler (St. Joseph Regional) and sophomore linebacker Cody Simon (St. Peter’s Prep).

So while Saturday’s trip to Rutgers was already important because it marks the resumption of Big Ten play, it also carries a little more weight for those Buckeyes who will once again get to play in front of their family and closest friends. In fact, Wypler – who grew up just 15 minutes away from SHI Stadium and regular attended games with his uncle – had to scrape together more than 200 tickets for the game.

“It’s really special,” Wypler said during his media availability on Tuesday afternoon. “A lot of my family and friends are going to be there, so it’s going to be really fun just playing in front of them.”

Simon echoed those sentiments, though he noted his entourage will be a bit smaller, with only a handful of people he grew up with set to be on hand.

“It’s always good to go back home,” Simon said on Wednesday evening. “Not many people get to go back and play in front of all their family and friend. I’m just excited for the opportunity.”

The Scarlet Knights are much improved under head coach Greg Schiano, who served as the Buckeyes’ defensive coordinator from 2016-18 and is now in his second stint with the program. But it’s easy to wonder how much better they could be if they were able to keep some of New Jersey’s top players home.

After all, Schiano played a key role in Ohio State’s recruitment of both Hickman and Wypler as the Buckeyes’ area recruiter during his tenure. And if he was at Rutgers when they were going through the recruiting process, perhaps they would be on the other side on Saturday afternoon.

“We were really close,” Hickman said of Schiano on Wednesday night. “He’s a Jersey guy, we know a lot of the same people, and he knows about that Jersey culture and that football I grew up playing in, so our relationship was really close. He played a huge part in my commitment here.

“I think it’s unique that he was there and had huge success there earlier in his career. For him to come back and start to change things around, it’s huge, not only for him, but the state of Jersey, as well.”

Rutgers has 78 players on its roster from New Jersey, including five from Don Bosco Prep, three apiece from Bergen Catholic and St. Joseph Regional, two from St. Peter’s Prep and one from DePaul Catholic. So given the fact that he's played against and alongside some of the Scarlet Knights, Hickman doesn't expect Saturday’s game to be easy by any stretch of the imagination.

“The toughness and the culture of the football out there (stands out),” Hickman said. “Most of us played in the Big North (Conference), which is – to me – the best football in Jersey, and I’m sure others would agree. Just competing against the top guys in New Jersey, and ultimately the country, only helps you for the next level of college football.”

Not one of the players made available to the media this week mentioned having any second thoughts about leaving their home state to play for the Buckeyes. However, Wypler noted that he initially struggled with the lack of great pizza and bagel joints in Columbus, as nothing compares to his options back in New Jersey.

“It’s been really tough,” Wypler said. “Bagels, I kind of gave up on after the first few weeks here at school. That was out of the question. Everyone kept asking me if I wanted my bacon, egg and cheese on a croissant and I just looked at them like, ‘Huh, that exists?’

“That was a hard adjustment, but there are a few pizza places I found that have decently good pizza. It’s definitely been quite the adjustment. Probably the hardest one I had.”

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