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Countdown: 48 Days Until Ohio State Football

Matt Gutridge's picture
July 14, 2019 at 9:30am
8 Comments
Kenston

Recruiting is said to be the lifeblood of college football. This series will countdown the top 100 high schools in Ohio that have provided the Buckeyes with football players. The rankings are based on how many times a player from each high school has been listed on Ohio State's roster between 1970 and 2018.

No. 48, Kenston

Qualification

Four players from Kenston have been listed on 16 Ohio State rosters. Andy Gurd was the first Bomber to play for the Buckeyes. He was a linebacker from 1987-1991 and earned two varsity letters. Gurd's career was riddled with injuries as he only played five games in his first three seasons. One of those games was in the Liberty Bowl in which he had 9 tackles in the loss to Air Force. As a senior, Gurd was able to record 19 tackles, 2 tackles for loss and a sack. 

Gurd was born in Ireland and both of his parents were physicians. While playing for the Buckeyes, his nickname was Goose.

LB Judah Herman (1988-1991) played in 32 games and notched 119 tackles and had 6 tackles for loss during his first three seasons. He was called on to replace Gurd in 1989 after his high school teammate missed the season with a shoulder injury. He started all 12 games that season. As a senior, Herman was second on the team in tackles (67) and tackles for loss (13.5). He was a consensus All-American at Kenston and was on a state-runner up team with Gurd in 1986. The Bombers lost to Carlos Snow and CAPE in the state championship game.

FB Calvin Long (1993) was only listed on the 1993 roster, his redshirt freshman season. 

OT Tyson Walter (1996-01) received an extra year of eligibility after he missed the 2000 season with a lower back infection. Entering his sixth year, Walter was considered the team's best pass protector as he already had three years of starting experience at left tackle. Before he missed the 2000 season, Walter had 37 consecutive starts between 1997 and 1999.

The Cowboys selected Walter in the sixth round of the 2002 NFL Draft. He was in the league for six seasons and played for the Cowboys, Texans, Redskins and Packers.

At Kenston, Walter led the team to a state runner-up finish as a senior and was an All-Ohioan.

Back To School

Kenston is located in Geauga County and is a member of the Western Reserve Conference. The team completes in Division III, Region 9. The Bombers went 14-1 in 2018 and won the state title after defeating Archbishop Alter, 42-6. 

Notable

Kenston has won four state titles in four different sports. As mentioned above, the football team won in 2018. Boys' soccer took the title in 1987, boys' cross country in 1983 and wrestling in 1972. 

Famous Alumni

Famous names you may know: NFL player Jack Rudnay and former lead singer of Stone Temple Pilots, Scott Weiland attended Kenston before moving to California.  

Explanation of the Rankings
School "A" had 14 players appear 16 times on Ohio State's roster. School "B" had 11 players appear 20 times on Ohio State's roster. School "B" will have the higher ranking. Why? Even though school "B" has less players, those players played for more years. 

If two or more schools have the same number of appearances, the tie will be broken by the school with the highest average of roster appearances per player. If there is a tie in the average, the tie breaker will be the school with the most prominent Ohio State player. 

Top 100 Ohio High Schools
100 99 98 97 96 95 94 93 92 91
90 89 88 87 86 85 84 83 82 81
80 79 78 77 76 75 74 73 72 71
70 69 68 67 66 65 64 63 62 61
60 59 58 57 56 55 54 53 52 51
50 49 48 47 46 45 44 43 42 41
40 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31
30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2,787 days since Ohio State has not defeated That Team.
139 days until The Game.

Are you a former player, graduate, live near or have something to add about today's featured high school? Please share your story with us in the comments. What makes the 11W community unique is the amount of great information everybody is willing to share.

This is a forum post from a site member. It does not represent the views of Eleven Warriors unless otherwise noted.

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