Jack Tatum and Na'il Diggs

To celebrate 32 days until the start of Ohio State's season I put together a little piece on Jack Tatum and Na'il Diggs. To read Joseph Galius and the other 33 players to wear No. 32 go here.

Tatum was a two-time National Champion and All-American for Ohio State. The B1G's best defensive back is given an award named in Tatum's honor.

Jack Tatum, DB (1968-70)
Born: 1948 (Cherryville, NC)
High School: Passaic (NJ)
Died: 2010 (Oakland, CA)

Ohio State
The Buckeyes were 27-2 with Tatum on the team.
1968 National Champion.
1970 National Champion.
1968 Big Ten Title.
1969 Big Ten Title.
1970 Big Ten Title.
1969 Defeated USC 27-16 to win the Rose Bowl.
1968 Defeated No. 1 Purdue 13-0.
Went 2-1 against That Team.
1968 Defeated No. 1 Purdue 13-0.

Tatum was called "The Assassin" for his hard hitting style.

Honors
1970 National Defensive Player of the Year.
1970 All-American.
1970 All-Big Ten.
1969 All-American.
1969 All-Big Ten.
1968 All-Big Ten.
Super Bowl XI Champion.
1973 Football Digest NFL Defensive Back of the Year.
Pro Bowl in 1973, 1974 and 1975.
All-Pro in 1974 and 1977.
1981 Inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame.
2004 Inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Jack Tatum's Ohio State career per The Ohio State Team Guide:

Wolverine hunting.

Jack Tatum was one of the dominant defensive players and most intimidating forces in college football during his career at Ohio State. A three-year starter, a two-time All-American and the national Defensive Player of the Year as a senior, he was known for his tenacity and fierce style of play.

The 6-1, 208-pound Tatum came to Ohio State as a running back, but moved to defense in the spring of his freshman year. He was a mainstay of the defense for the next three seasons as OSU rolled up a 27-2 record and won the 1968 national championship, two Big Ten titles and played in two Rose Bowls.

The Oakland Raiders selected him in the first round of the 1971 NFL Draft. In his nine-year career, he was named to the Pro Bowl three times and was a member of the 1976 Super Bowl champion Raiders.

He was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1981 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2004. The outstanding defensive back in the Big Ten is awarded the Tatum-Woodson Defensive Back of the Year award.

Tatum's high school career and recruitment to Ohio State per Wikipedia:

Tatum was born in Cherryville, North Carolina, and grew up in Passaic, New Jersey, where he had little interest in playing sports in his early years. Tatum did not begin playing football until he entered his sophomore year at Passaic High School, where he played as a running back, fullback and defensive back and was selected first-team All-State. He was selected a high school All-American as a senior. In 1999, the Newark Star-Ledger named Tatum as one of New Jersey's top ten defensive players of the century.

Tatum visited a number of universities before starting his collegiate career with the Ohio State University Buckeyes. Head coach Woody Hayes recruited Tatum as a running back. However, assistant coach Lou Holtz convinced Hayes to switch Tatum to defensive back during Tatum's freshman season. Tatum was used by the Buckeyes to cover the opposing team's best wide receiver, but he also was used occasionally as a linebacker due to the nature of his hits and his innate ability to bring down even the biggest fullback or tight end.

He first became known to college football observers as a sophomore when he helped limit All-American Leroy Keyes during a 13-0 upset against the Purdue Boilermakers during the early part of the 1968 season.

Tatum's role in the immaculate reception per Wikipedia:

Tatum was involved in one of the most famous plays in National Football League history, the Immaculate Reception, during the AFC divisional playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on December 23, 1972. With 22 seconds left in the game, Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw threw a pass to running back John "Frenchy" Fuqua. Tatum collided with Fuqua, knocking the ball into the air. The ball fell into the hands of Steelers running back Franco Harris, who ran it 42 yards for the game-winning touchdown. The play is famous because NFL rules at the time prohibited a receiver from batting the ball to another player of the same team. The referees ruled that Tatum had touched the ball and therefore Harris's touchdown was permitted, allowing the Steelers to win the game.

nflfilms.com posted this article with unseen footage of the play: The NFL’s Greatest Whodunnit: The Immaculate Reception

An article written by Mike Lopresti of usatoday.com that covers Jack Tatum's hit on Darryl Stingley, their lives after the hit and Jack Tatum's death.

Na'il Diggs left for the NFL after his junior season.

Na'il Diggs, LB (1996-99)
Born: 1978 (Phoenix, AZ)
High School: Dorsey (Los Angeles)

Ohio State
The Buckeyes were with Diggs on the team.

Honors
1999 All-American.
1998 All-Big Ten.

Diggs' Ohio State career per ohiostatebuckeyes.com:

Diggs was an All-American as a junior.

Diggs emerged as one of the top outside linebackers in the Big Ten Conference and nationally in his three seasons - 1997-99 - at Ohio State. A 37-game veteran who started 26-consecutive games dating to the Michigan game of his red-shirt freshman season in 1997, Diggs was named a first-team All-American in 1999 by the Football News after garnering Playboy preseason All-American honors heading into the season. He was also named a semifinalist for the Butkus Award and the Football News Defensive Player of the Year Award and he was named second-team all-Big Ten Conference.

Diggs led the Buckeyes in tackles as a junior with 94 (64 solo). He also led the team with 15 tackles-for-loss, totalling 53 yards, six quarterback sacks and three forced fumbles. He had a career-high 14 tackles vs. Wisconsin with additional high games of 11 tackles vs. Iowa, 10 vs. Miami in the Kickoff Classic - including four tackles-for-loss - and 10 vs. Cincinnati.

He was outstanding on the field vs. Penn State, notching six tackles and two tackles-for-loss, including an end zone, fumble-forcing quarterback sack that led to an Ohio State touchdown. His junior totals raise his career statistics to 202 total tackles, 39 tackles-for-loss (tie for seventh all-time at Ohio State), 18 quarterback sacks (tie for fifth at OSU), 165 tackles-for-loss yards (seventh at OSU) and 118 quarterback sack yards (fifth at OSU). His overall statistics totals also include five pass break-ups, four forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, including one he returned 47 yards for a touchdown in 1998 vs. Illinois, and an interception.

Diggs exploded onto the national scene as a sophomore in 1998, being named first-team all-Big Ten Conference in his first full season as a collegiate linebacker (he played as a rush defensive end his first two years at Ohio State). A key performer on the nation's No. 1 defense against the run and No. 2 total defensive unit, Diggs was second on the team with 80 tackles and he led the squad with 16 tackles-for-losses totalling 73 yards. His six sacks ranked second among Buckeyes.

As a red-shirt freshman in 1997, Diggs played in all 13 games at defensive end and started the final two: against Michigan and in the Sugar Bowl vs. Florida State. He led the team in sacks with six, including three vs. Minnesota (the second-highest game sack total in OSU history).

Diggs was one of the top players in the state of California as a senior and originally committed to attend Southern California, but later changed his mind. He was then offered a scholarship to attend Ohio State, and he accepted.

Diggs decides to turn pro per ohiostatebuckeyes.com:

Ohio State junior linebacker Na'il Diggs announced today (Tuesday, Jan. 4) that he has decided to give up his final season of collegiate eligibility to pursue a career in the National Football League.

"I learned at the young age of 13 when my mother passed away that the future is not promised to anyone," Diggs said at a packed press conference at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. "I feel that I must seize the opportunity that is presently before me and act on it."

[...]

He is the 13th Buckeye in the 1990s to leave school early and declare for the NFL Draft. Ten of the first 12 who left early were selected in the first round of the NFL Draft, including No. 1 picks Dan Wilkinson in 1994 and Orlando Pace in 1997.