“Oh my god, it was unbelievable sitting there at the Downtown Athletic Club in New York City with my family, my friends, Archie was there obviously, and I had no idea they were going to call my name,” the 1995 winner said. When he went to New York along with such stars as Nebraska quarterback Tommie Frazier and Florida’s Danny Wuerffel, George wasn’t sure if he would take home the trophy. Far from a one-trick pony, George also pulled in 47 catches out of the backfield for 417 yards, giving Hoying a key outlet option to keep drives alive on third downs. He ran 328 times on the year for 1,927 yards – a school record – and a nation’s best 24 touchdowns. Wisconsin and Penn State.īy the end of the year, the Buckeyes were 11-1, and George was an obvious Heisman choice. OSU raced through all of them, administering nonconference beatings to Boston College, Washington, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame before taut Big Ten wins vs. The Buckeyes schedule was no joke, as playing in the Kickoff Classic gave the team a then-unusual 12-game slate, and five of the first six games were against ranked teams. Up front, the best lineman in college history in Orlando Pace paved the way. Bobby Hoying was at the controls with George in the backfield, Terry Glenn outside and Rickey Dudley providing a mismatch at tight end. He also caught 16 passes for 117 yards for an Ohio State team that went 9-4 but beat Michigan for the first time in John Cooper’s tenure.Ī year later, the Buckeyes returned almost unmatched offensive firepower. George had just 79 carries combined his first two seasons but became the feature back in ’94, rushing 276 times for 1,442 yards and 12 touchdowns. There are pictures of me standing on the bench waving a towel, getting the fans involved because that was my job and I embraced that.”įinally, by 1994, it was his time, and George grabbed it with authority. “Instead of pouting, I said, you know what, if my role is going to be to support my teammates toward having an undefeated season, then I’m going to do that. Sophomore year, personally, I thought I should be playing, but it was Raymont and Butler By’not’e’s time. I wanted to make sure that while I wasn’t playing, what was my energy going forward? And I was going be the best cheerleader I can be. “I would do extra workouts to make sure that I crossed every T and dotted every I. “I would work out, I would be the first one in, last one to leave in the gym,” he said in 2014. He could have transferred somewhere else, perhaps closer to home. George's problems with fumbles are well known among fans, and in a crowded backfield that boasted names like Raymont Harris, Robert Smith and Butler By'not'e, he was suddenly relegated to the bench for most of the 1992 and '93 seasons. But unlike some of those who came before, he then went through adversity. There, his career unfolded like some of his fellow Heisman legends, as he had immediate success. He eventually ended up at Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia and then Ohio State. Born in Philadelphia, he sat on his stoop as a child and looked out over the City of Brotherly Love, dreaming of what could be on the horizon. Vic Janowicz headed to Columbus from the northern city of Elyria, while Les Horvath was born in South Bend, Ind., but grew up in Parma outside of Cleveland.īut Eddie was different. Before Eddie George, every Ohio State Heisman Trophy winner had some tie to Ohio before arriving on campus.Īrchie Griffin and Hop Cassady were born just up the street from the Horseshoe in the city limits of Columbus.
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