Thirty-seven seasons ago Mike Boren was the Michigan Wolverines' leading tackler.
He and his wife Hope are both Michigan graduates, and their eldest son Justin followed their footsteps to Ann Arbor in 2006 to play for Lloyd Carr, who was Bo Schembechler's DB coach during Mike's playing days.
But Carr's retirement in 2007 produced a sequence of events that led to a midfield presentation this afternoon during Ohio State's season-opening win over Florida Atlantic.
Thank you to the Boren family! Buckeyes paying forward! pic.twitter.com/umcCx21Lb4
— gene smith (@OSU_AD) August 31, 2019
Justin did the unthinkable, transferring from Rich Rodriguez's Wolverines to Jim Tressel's Buckeyes, clearing a path for both of his younger brothers to follow his footsteps instead of their father's.
The Boren brothers' journey is well-documented, as the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry went from 2006-2015 with a Boren participating each time (except for 2008, when the eldest was on the sideline, sitting out for one year after transferring). Mike went 2-2 against the Buckeyes at Michigan, Justin went 0-2 at Michigan and 2-1 in Columbus, Zach went 3-1 against the Wolverines and Jacoby went a perfect 4-0.
It's reasonable to suggest that today's seven-figure gift to Ohio State athletics was set in motion when Justin found himself incompatible with the program Rodriguez was building in Ann Arbor, which effectively switched the entire family's allegiance from Maize and Blue to Scarlet and Gray.
Go Bucks. Pay Forward.
