Ohio State's 2016 senior class has a chance to win its second national championship in three years with two more victories this season. Before kickoff against Clemson in the College Football Playoff, Eleven Warriors will take a brief look back at each player's time in Columbus.
Where He's From
It only makes sense to wrap up our 2016 Fight to the End series with arguably the most important piece on Ohio State's offense.
Pat Elflein is the ultimate definition of a Buckeye. Raised in Pickerington, Ohio, about 20 minutes southeast of downtown Columbus, Elflein waited forever to get a scholarship offer from the school he grew up cheering for every Saturday in the fall.
“I waited and waited, didn't care how it happened as long as it happened,” Elflein said recently of getting an offer from Urban Meyer and the Buckeyes.
It happened late in the 2012 recruiting cycle and Elflein didn't waste too much time before he committed to his hometown school. After a stellar career as a two-way player at Pickerington North, Elflein had to earn his way to an offer by showing out at Ohio State's summer camps.
He committed as the lowest-ranked player in the class according to 247Sports, destined for a redshirt year. Elflein's first start didn't come until the Big Ten Championship Game in 2013, thrust into the fold a week earlier after officials ejected Marcus Hall for fighting during the Michigan game. Elflein performed admirably in both games and started full time once the 2014 season began. He played guard that year and the next before switching in 2016 to center.
“I can't give an adjective to over emphasize his value to our program, and I've done this 29 years,” Meyer said ahead of Elflein's last home game, a 30-27 double overtime win over Michigan. “He's as good a player, person, leader as I've ever been around.”
Top Moments
Where to begin? We already touched on the way he stepped in for Hall late in the 2013 season and helped pave the way for Braxton Miller, Carlos Hyde and the rest of the Buckeyes to rush for 666 yards and six touchdowns against Michigan and Michigan State. Considered an afterthought in the 2012 recruiting class, Elflein became a lynchpin to Ohio State's vaunted rushing attack during its national championship season two years later, when Ezekiel Elliott and Co. rushed for nearly 4,000 yards and 41 touchdowns all while averaging 5.8 yards per carry.
Ohio State's rushing prowess continued in 2015 with 3,188 yards and 39 touchdowns in 13 games largely due to the brilliance of Elliott. But the star running back wouldn't have been able to do much without Elflein and the rest of the big guys up front. When 2016 rolled around Elflein moved to center because his team needed him to following the graduation of Jacoby Boren. And, because he wasn't finished with what he started at Ohio State.
“It’s like signing a five-star recruit with three years of experience,” former offensive line coach Ed Warinner said at Fiesta Bowl Media Day last year in Scottsdale, Arizona.
“I love Ohio State. I love the coaches. I want to graduate and there’s still some things personally I want to accomplish here,” Elflein added that day.
Elflein received his degree this summer, then morphed into a unanimous All-American by throwing blocks like this one against Northwestern to allow Mike Weber to waltz into the end zone.
Such plays became regular occurrences for Elflein this season and he reaped the rewards—literally. Elflein became the first Buckeye since Malcolm Jenkins to win a national college football award, taking home the Rimington Award as the nation's top center.
“I never would have thought, walking in here when I was a freshman that my picture would be up there someday,” he said last week. “It’s very surreal and just a credit to my teammate, coaches, everyone who’s pushed me, my family always having my back. It’s just an incredible honor. It’s truly incredible.”
The Big Ten named him its 2016 Rimington-Pace Offensive Lineman of the Year and Elflein was also a finalist for the Outland Trophy as the country's best offensive lineman.
Elflein's list of goals for his senior season included becoming an All-American, leading Ohio State to the College Football Playoff and winning another national championship. He is two-thirds of the way there.
Overarching Contribution To The Program
Meyer's quote above pretty much takes care of this section of Elflein's Fight to the End story.
In what is now his fifth year at Ohio State, Elflein has started 41 games for the Buckeyes, winning 37 of them. He teamed up with Billy Price as one of two returning starters on the offensive line ahead of the 2016 season. All the Buckeyes did was average 258.3 yards per game on the ground and 42.7 points per contest, both the best in the Big Ten and near the top of all of college football.
To further establish Elflein's importance and impact to the Ohio State football program, chew on this statistic: In his 41 starts, the Buckeyes have failed to eclipse the 200-yard rushing mark only nine times. It takes an entire offensive line for a running game to be that potent, but Elflein is the apex this season, the ultimate leader and the biggest reason the group replaced three starters from last season and hardly skipped a beat.
Not to mention his graduated, does community service and everything else in between.
Where He's Headed
Barring injury, Elflein is slated for an extremely prosperous career in the National Football League. Analysts project him as an early round draft pick and one of the top centers in this year's class.
With a degree in hand and a work ethic that is second to none, Elflein seems like a pretty safe bet to be successful in just about anything he sets his mind to. He should stick in the NFL for a while and is in line to have everything in front of him whenever it is time to hang up his cleats.
He invested in Ohio State at a young age and made the absolute most of his talents and chance to help the Buckeyes win football games despite only being a three-star recruit and late add to the 2012 class.
“I never thought I would be in this position, but I’m a product of the culture here, of the coaches and my teammates,” Elflein said. “If you come in this place and you’re ready to give everything you have then Coach Mick [Marotti] and his staff, Coach Meyer and the coaches will create champions if you really open your heart and want to be invested in this place. So that’s what I credit it to and just having an amazing support system the whole way my whole career. It’s still crazy thinking about it.”
More Pat Elflein
- The Finisher: Pat Elflein Embodies Family Mindset With Intensity on Field
- An emotional Elflein thanks his teammates for the proper sendoff following Ohio State's win over Michigan
- As he did all season after victories, Elflein leads Across The Field after the Buckeyes stomped Nebraska 62-3
- On Elflein's relationship with former high school teammate and Michigan tight end Jake Butt
