Logan Hittle had no expectations of playing football for the Buckeyes when he chose to attend Ohio State as a student.
While Hittle played football at Tri-Valley High School near his hometown of Nashport, Ohio, and chose Ohio State in part because of its athletic tradition, he never envisioned trying out for the team. But on his first day as a student facility worker at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center in the fall of 2017, a conversation with assistant director of player personnel Eron Hodges – who served as Ohio State’s walk-on coordinator at the time – made that suddenly seem more realistic.
“Started off just taking out the trash and doing facility maintenance, and then was approached by the walk-on coordinator one day about maybe giving it a shot and walking on, and I took it into consideration and chased what would be a kid from Ohio’s lifelong dream, and it ended up working out for me,” Hittle said.
Hittle tried out for the Buckeyes in the winter of 2018 and made the team, which led him to spend the next two years going to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center for practice instead of work. He didn’t see the field much on Saturdays – in his two years on the team, Hittle made his only game appearance in last year’s blowout win over Miami (Ohio) – but just having the opportunity to be a part of the team and wear the scarlet and gray in Ohio Stadium was special enough.
“I never envisioned continuing my football career anywhere, let alone at Ohio State when I enrolled for academics. So it was definitely a dream come true for me,” Hittle told Eleven Warriors.
A 5-foot-11, 210-pound linebacker who was only recruited by small colleges like Otterbein and Capital, Hittle understood he wasn’t going to be a star player for the Buckeyes, and he acknowledged that walk-on life was tough at times. But the lessons he learned from being a part of the Ohio State football program for the last two years have helped prepare him for the next phase of his life.
“The most important thing I took away from my walk-on experience was it really developed my character as a person,” Hittle said. “It’s just a culture that is unlike any other, and I think that I just aspire to always, whether it’s professionally or personally, to identify with people that want more for themselves and want the best. So I think that when I got a taste of the culture and the people that were at Ohio State, it really pushed me to become the best version of myself.
“As a walk-on, there’s times that – anyone will tell you that you ask – like, ‘Man, why am I doing this?’ or there’s times where you’re like, ‘Is it worth it?’ But when you’re doing it for a greater purpose then it definitely becomes easier.”
That greater purpose for Hittle was not only to do whatever he could to add value to the Buckeyes – which for him came mostly in the form of scout-team work at practices – but also to prepare himself to pursue a career working in college sports.
Since Hittle knew he wasn’t going to play in the NFL, he utilized his time as a Buckeye to make connections and gain knowledge from everyone within the program – from coaches and teammates to a wide variety of staffers – that could ultimately help him achieve his goal of working in a college athletic department.
“I wanted to utilize every resource that I could while I was at Ohio State,” Hittle said. “So I wanted to make sure that every day at the facility I was having conversations with somebody. Whether it was a coach or whether it was a trainer or a current GA that I could network with and create a contact, because I knew that when I was done, I wanted to work in athletics and I want to eventually work in player development and do what (Ryan Stamper) does at Ohio State.”
Logan Hittle smiles after making his only game appearance for Ohio State last season against Miami.
That effort paid off, as Hittle landed a graduate assistant position at the University of Tennessee, where he will work with football players as an academic counselor beginning in July.
Because Ohio State doesn’t employ many graduate assistants in non-coaching positions, Hittle had to look elsewhere, and while he interviewed for positions at numerous Division I schools, he believes Tennessee – though he hasn’t yet been able to actually go to Knoxville due to the COVID-19 pandemic – will offer a similar culture to that which he was a part of in Columbus.
“I think a lot of the people there are just very genuine and invested in really this next generation, or the athletes that are there, and finding ways to utilize resources for them and better them as not only obviously student-athletes, but as humans that impact society,” Hittle said. “I wouldn’t have the opportunity to be in this position if there wasn’t people at Ohio State like that, so I think that’s kind of what drew me to Tennessee.”
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— Logan Hittle (@_hittle20) May 15, 2020
Hittle is grateful for the many people who helped him grow during his years as a Buckeye, including athletic director Gene Smith – whom he said he sat down and spoke with on numerous occasions – and Stamper, who helped show him the ropes of becoming a player development director. Hittle spent time interning with Ohio State coaches and administrators through the Bucks Go Pro program, and he says that experience was crucial in positioning him to start his career.
“Without that experience, I don’t know that I would have the job at Tennessee that I have now,” Hittle said. “Maddy McIntyre and her staff with the Bucks Go Pro program is just unbelievable, and that really I think opened a lot of doors.”
One person Hittle singled out as a huge personal influence during his years as a Buckeye was assistant strength and conditioning coach Niko Palazeti, who coordinated his initial workouts as a walk-on and has maintained a close bond with Hittle ever since.
“He’s the most genuine and caring guy that maybe I’ve ever met,” Hittle said. “We have a very similar personality and outlook on things, and he was a guy I kind of used as an outlet when times would get tough or when I was kind of struggling, and he never really took it easy on me, but he was a guy that I knew that he genuinely cared about me and understood.”
While most walk-ons won’t see significant playing time at Ohio State or go on to play in the NFL, Hittle’s experience serves as an example of how being a walk-on can still help prepare someone for a professional career in sports.
For those who might want to follow a similar path, Hittle says his advice is “to be optimistic, be open-minded and just absorb everything.”
“I think that sometimes people get caught up in the moment, and they kind of rush through their experience,” Hittle said. “And I think for me, what I did and I think what’s gonna be helpful for me is I kind of slowed it down and I tried to absorb everything and I tried to reach out to everyone I could.
“Not being afraid to go in a coach’s office, or somebody that you might not be close with, but just saying, ‘Hey, I’m interested in this, do you have some time to tell me a little bit about it?’ Or ‘Do you have time to give me some advice?’ Because at the end of the day, the people at Ohio State are more than willing to do that for you, and I think the more that you can seek out information and seek out people, the more that it’s going to benefit you down the road.”
