Former Ohio State linebacker great to ring bell for Illinois game
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Ohio State football’s new tradition of inviting a former Buckeye great to ring the victory bell before home football games was a hit last year. The Buckeyes will continue that tradition this season, and we already know one of the legends who will take part.
The honor was announced by Ryan Day during some official visits last weekend based on a video 5-star defensive lineman Macus Fakatou shared. The ringing of the bell is a first for a current member of the football staff and comes in a year in which Laurinaitis will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, an honor justifiably deserved.
“The Victory Bell was built in 1954 so that everybody in the area could hear when the Buckeyes won. Not everybody could get to the stadium; they didn’t have as much TV and radio, there was not as much coverage as what you see, no TikTok back in 1954,” Day said during the visit of several high-profile recruits. “So people in the area, when they heard the bell ring, they knew the Buckeyes won. It was a big deal,” Day said while speaking to official visitors and their families inside Ohio Stadium. “Then we started a tradition last year that we have some of our former players come back and ring the victory bell before a game. And next year, before the Illinois game, Coach Laurinaitis, who’s being inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame, is going to ring the Victory Bell before that game.”
Those old enough know how good Laurinaitis was in the Scarlet and Gray as one of the most decorated players in OSU history. He is one of only eight three-time All-Americans in program history. He won the Big Ten’s Defensive Player of the Year twice (the only to do so), won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy in 2006 as the nation’s best defender, the Butkus Award as the country’s best linebacker in 2007, and the Lott IMPACT Trophy in 2008.
Last season, former OSU greats included two-time Heisman winner Archie Griffin, along with former Ohio State head coaches John Cooper, Urban Meyer and Jim Tressel, and Ohio State basketball greats Clark Kellogg, Michael Redd and Jerry Lucas. Jaxon Smith-Njigba rang the victory bell ahead of the spring game.
Laurnaitis finished his career at Ohio State with 375 total tackles, 24.5 tackles for loss, 13 sacks, nine interceptions, and four forced fumbles during his four seasons on the banks of the Olentangy. In other words, ringing the victory bell makes a lot of sense.
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This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Former Ohio State All-American to ring victory bell for Illinois game
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