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‘I’m out on that’: Mark Sanchez details what kept him from committing to Ohio State
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Coming out of high school, not many players were as heavily-recruited as quarterback Mark Sanchez. Considered a 5-star prospect and one of the top prospects in the 2005 class, Sanchez was recruited by teams from coast to coast.
Despite entertaining offers from a few programs, Sanchez ultimately decided to stick around his home state of California and play at USC. He had an outstanding year in 2008, throwing for 3,207 yards and 34 touchdowns in his lone season as the starter for the Trojans.
Did you know, though, that Sanchez nearly committed to Ohio State? In an interview with Connor O’Gara on the Saturday Down South Podcast, the former USC QB explained just how close he was to becoming a Buckeye.
“I remember going to Ohio State,” Sanchez said. “We’re at The Horseshoe. They put my high school highlight tape on the big screen. They had the band there. I got my Ohio State No. 6 Sanchez jersey and they put Keith Jackson’s voice talking over my highlights … it was awesome. I was ready to go to Ohio State. I was ready to be a Buckeye. Just tell me where to sign, ya know?”
Jim Tressel was incredibly close to landing one of the nation’s top quarterback prospects. So what went wrong?
“We went into Coach Tressel’s office, he’s got the sweater vest on, and he said, ‘It’s great. Every year we play Michigan right around Thanksgiving and the last 10 years in a row, it snowed for game day. It’s great football weather.’ And I was like, ‘What?’ I looked at my dad and said, ‘Did he just say that it snowed?’ And I’m like, I’m out on that.”
So, apparently it was the weather that kept Sanchez out of Columbus for his college career. To be fair, though, it did work out pretty well for the former 5-star gunslinger at USC.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB