Ohio State opens the fifth edition of Camp Urban Meyer in just more than five weeks but a different set of stars took to the hallowed outdoor turf at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center Thursday.
Whether it was tossing a football around in mock 7-on-7 drills, slamming tackling dummies, honing their quick cal skills with strength coach Mickey Marotti, or improving their acceleration by running in front of a parachute or weighted sled, roughly 280 athletes with developmental disabilities tore through two hours with the help of their heroes.
"We're extremely grateful to The Ohio State University football program to the Central Ohio NFL alumni association for supporting our athletes," event founder and coordinator Steve Weaver said. "Our athletes learned from the masters of the game. It's my favorite day of the year."
More than 100 volunteers worked in conjunction with Goodwill Columbus and Kroger to fulfill a dream of these special athletes. Among them were more than 25 football players, assistant coaches Larry Johnson and Zach Smith and former NFL Buckeyes Michael Wiley and Calvin Murray.
Current Buckeyes included: Corey Smith, Dontre Wilson, Noah Brown, Curtis Samuel, Parris Campbell, Alex Stump, Liam McCullough, Cameron Johnston, Sean Nuernberger, Nick Conner, Binjimen Victor, Nick Bosa, Joshua Alabi, Terry McLaurin, Dylan Thompson, Jashon Cornell, Tracy Sprinkle, Jalyn Holmes, Darius Slade, James Clark, Robert Landers, Malik Barrow, Jonathon Cooper and walk-ons Jared Drake, Austin Clutter, Devlin McDaniel and Logan Kelleher.
This is the fourth time Ohio State hosted the event, which came about after Weaver suggested it to Meyer.
Check out the video to get a glimpse of what the day was like.
