The best, most impactful player on Ohio State’s Big Ten championship-winning defense on Saturday was a sixth-year senior.
A former five-star recruit whose college football career continues as he steadfastly remains chasing his NFL dreams despite suffering a multitude of injuries that have ended playing careers, including a torn Achilles and torn biceps in both arms. A backup linebacker who sat out the first game with an injury, missed the second one due to a false positive and only got the start against Northwestern because Baron Browning was deemed unavailable. A veteran who graduated from the university last weekend making his first start of the season with his position coach missing due to a positive coronavirus test.
That guy.
Trey Sermon gets the majority of headlines, and for good reason. The man broke Ohio State’s single-game rushing record, a mark that Eddie George set before the Oklahoma graduate transfer was even born. But without Justin Hilliard, who’s been on this team’s sidelines since Ezekiel Elliott, J.T. Barrett, Taylor Decker and Michael Thomas trained at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, the Buckeyes might not have won the Big Ten title game this weekend.
The double-redshirt senior was, in a word, spectacular.
Hilliard nearly doubled up his prior career high by racking up a team-best nine tackles with two coming for losses. He had never previously recorded more than five total tackles in a game before this weekend, and he secured five of them in solo fashion on Saturday. His third-quarter interception was only the second pick of his career.
Way back on June 2, 2014, Hilliard committed to Ohio State with dreams of playing the way he did on Saturday. Six and a half years ago, he couldn’t have predicted – and wouldn’t have wanted to predict – this college football career arc. It hasn’t been easy. Not a single person on the planet could have blamed him for giving it up once injury after injury started wiping him out entire seasons.
But Hilliard didn’t, because he saw what happened on Saturday coming even if it was hard for others to believe.
“Oh my gosh, man,” Hilliard said. “This whole journey, man, it's been tough but it's been such a blessing at the same time. I know earlier this week I was able to talk to the younger guys at Senior Tackle and that was just so emotional for me because just the journey I've been on and the guys that have been here with me to stick with me and push me through some of those tougher times.
“I knew I had to step up today in a bigger role and I'm glad I was able to.”
That bigger role led to bigger opportunities than ever before, and he rose to the occasion.
Northwestern offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian essentially pointed to a one-on-one matchup between tight end John Raine and Hilliard and said, “I think my guy is better than your guy,” when he dialed up an end-zone fade from the 9-yard line on 3rd-and-8 on the first drive of the second half. Hilliard locked onto Raine, recognized the underthrown pass and jumped in front of him to pick the ball off.
The Buckeyes, trailing by four points and threatening to go down by double figures, needed somebody to make a play. And because the Wildcats – and quarterback Peyton Ramsey – decided to pick on the sixth-year linebacker in man-to-man coverage, Hilliard both got and capitalized on the chance.
“Oh my God,” head coach Ryan Day said. “How about the interception he had in the one-on-one? I mean, he played his tail off.”
Hilliard added: “Our coaches put us in the best positions, man, to make plays. I felt like I was extremely ready. I was ready for him to run that fade. I was glad I was able to make that play.”
There's that @OhioStateFB defense!@JHilliard47 comes up with the huge INT in the end zone for the Buckeyes pic.twitter.com/dDxF6wS7NY
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) December 19, 2020
On a number of occasions, Hilliard was in the right place at the right time. Maybe some of it was just happenstance, but when it happens that often, it’s not just luck. He played like the veteran he is and showcased the talent and athleticism that made him a coveted five-star prospect what feels like eons ago.
He started blowing plays up early on, taking down Bryce Kirtz for just a four-yard gain on a wide receiver screen that appeared on the verge of hitting for a bigger gain. He showed up constantly for four quarters. Midway through the third quarter with Northwestern still on top, Hilliard brought down Riley Lee on a drive that ended three plays later on a missed field goal largely due to the negative play putting kicker Charlie Kuhbander out of range.
Shortly thereafter, Pete Werner forced Ramsey to fumble and Hilliard pounced on it to get Ohio State the ball back at Northwestern’s 40-yard line and set up a Blake Haubeil field goal two and a half minutes later.
The fact that Hilliard’s two turnovers came in the second half wasn’t a coincidence. Not in his mind. Not with the mindset he brought out of the locker room after the Buckeyes began the third quarter looking at a four-point deficit.
“I think the attitude of our defense, our team going out in that second half, we had so much confidence because we knew exactly what we had to do,” Hilliard said. “We knew what we had to fix. I'll never forget that moment. We're coming out in the second half. Coach (Kerry) Coombs told us exactly what we needed to fix, exactly what we needed to do, and we were confident about it. We had no words because we knew what we're capable of. I'm glad we were able to pull it off.”
Maybe it wasn’t pretty. Maybe it didn’t all go the way Ohio State planned.
But neither has Hilliard’s career. But as evidenced by his performance in the 22-10 Big Ten title game win, he’s still making it count.
