Skull Session: Andy Katzenmoyer Shares His “Welcome to Ohio State” Moment, Maxwell Moldovan Makes U.S. Open History and A Salute to Jerry Emig

By Dan Hope on June 13, 2025 at 5:00 am
Andy Katzenmoyer
RVR Photos – Imagn Images
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Welcome to the Skull Session.

With Chase making his way back from a trip to the U.S. Open, I’m stewarding this space for him today to close out the week. To help you start your weekend off right, we’ll share a fun story from an Ohio State legend, a spectacular moment for a former Ohio State golfer at Oakmont, why retiring sports information director Jerry Emig deserves your admiration and more.

 “ORLANDO JUST RAN RIGHT THROUGH ME.” Earlier this week, Eleven Warriors sat down with Ohio State linebacker legend Andy Katzenmoyer for the first-ever 12th Warrior Happy Hour, a new series offering subscribers to our 12th Warrior program the opportunity to chat with Buckeye greats.

The full replay of our hour-long conversation with “Big Kat” is exclusive to our 12th Warrior subscribers – good reason to sign up if you haven’t already – but we’re sharing one of the most entertaining moments from the chat with you here in the Skull Session today.

When Katzenmoyer arrived at Ohio State in 1996, he was accustomed to dominating his competition, having won Ohio Mr. Football and National Defensive Player of the Year honors as a senior at Westerville South High School. In one of his first practices as a Buckeye, however, Katzenmoyer learned quickly that success wouldn’t come as easily at Ohio State as he received a “Welcome to Ohio State” moment courtesy of superstar Buckeye left tackle Orlando Pace.

“So we did 9-on-7, which is offensive line, defensive line, linebackers, quarterback, running backs, tight ends, okay? And it's all like inside run stuff. Very first play, I get out there, it's No. 1 offense and I think at that time I was third or fourth on the depth chart at linebacker going against the defense. And they run a stretch play to Pepe Pearson, and he's going to my right, offensive left, and I'm like, all right, I see the ball, I got my key, I'm running, I got this. I'm watching Pepe, he catches the ball, and next thing I know, boom, I'm on my back,” Katzenmoyer recalled. “I didn't see what happened, I just knew I got leveled. Lo and behold, I go and watch the play, Orlando Pace had like chipped the defensive end to kind of push him out of the way and he just was like making his way to me and just leveled me – ran right through me – and then ended up going to proceed to block someone else.

“So that's when I knew, I'm like, ‘This is the real deal,’ because no one in high school could ever do that to me. Even if I didn't see the guy, or if he caught me at the last second, no one would ever knock me. They may stalemate me, but I could gather myself. But Orlando just ran right through me. That's when I knew this was different.”

It didn’t take long for Katzenmoyer to adjust to the physicality of the college game, as he quickly became known as one of the nation’s most feared linebackers, earning first-team All-Big Ten honors in all three of his seasons as a Buckeye before becoming a first-round pick in the NFL.

In our full conversation with Katzenmoyer, the Ohio State legend shared additional memories from his Buckeye career, shared his thoughts on how college football has changed since he played, named his “Mount Rushmore” of Ohio State linebackers and gave his thoughts on what happened in Ohio State’s loss to Michigan, among other topics. Become a 12th Warrior today to watch the full video and participate in all future 12W Happy Hours.

 A HISTORIC SHOT. Former Ohio State golfer Maxwell Moldovan briefly held the solo lead at the U.S. Open on Thursday morning.

The former Buckeye shot to the top of the leaderboard at 2-under when he hit a perfect second shot on his first hole of the tournament to make an eagle from 189 yards out.

Moldovan’s eagle on the first hole, a 484-yard par-4, was the first-ever eagle on hole No. 1 in a U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club, which is hosting the U.S. Open for a record-setting 10th time this year.

Unfortunately, Moldovan was unable to build momentum off of his spectacular start. The eagle was the only hole he played under par on Thursday, and he finished the first round tied for 98th at 6-over, three shots behind the projected cut line. No matter how the rest of the tournament goes, however, Moldovan will always be able to say he held the lead in the U.S. Open – even if only for a few minutes – and made history in the process.

 A SALUTE TO JERRY. It’s hard for me to imagine covering Ohio State football without Jerry Emig overseeing the Buckeyes’ press conferences and interview sessions.

Having first covered Ohio State for The Lantern when I was a freshman at OSU in 2011-12, I’ve never known a world in which Emig wasn’t the football team’s communications director. Emig has held that role since 2011, initially taking the reins for Luke Fickell’s season as interim head coach and remaining in that role throughout the Urban Meyer era and the first six years of Ryan Day’s tenure.

After one more year leading Ohio State’s athletics communications department, however, Emig will retire on March 1, he announced Thursday.

I’m happy for Emig to have the opportunity to begin the next chapter of his life after one last football season with the Buckeyes, and I’m intrigued to see who Ohio State chooses to succeed him. But for today, I want to express my appreciation for Jerry and explain what people might not know about Jerry, both regarding his work and who he is as a person.

Any assessment of Emig’s work as Ohio State’s communications director should start with the understanding that sending out press releases and promotional social media posts is only a small part of his job. As Ohio State’s associate athletic director of communications and the lead SID for the football program, Emig is responsible for overseeing communications for the largest athletic department in the country and for managing the largest college sports beat in the country.

Over the course of a season, Emig works with hundreds of local, regional and national media members to help them cover Ohio State football, all the while navigating the delicate balance of keeping both the team and the media happy. And he does so with a staff that’s significantly smaller than it once was, as sports information staffs – not only at Ohio State but throughout the country – have been a frequent target of budget cuts in college sports in recent years.

Emig does all of that with a smile on his face, bringing positive energy to every media session. He doesn’t take himself too seriously, which all of us on the beat appreciate. And while there certainly have been times where I’ve wanted more from Jerry in terms of interview requests or other access, I’ve never questioned his efforts and intentions to do right by both Ohio State and the media who cover the Buckeyes every day.

More importantly than all of that, Jerry is a great family man who has done a wonderful job caring for his son, A.J., who has both Down syndrome and a heart defect. If you haven’t watched the feature Big Ten Network put together on Jerry and A.J. in 2017, I highly recommend taking nine minutes to watch it.

I’m happy I’ve had the opportunity to get to know Jerry throughout my time on the Ohio State beat, and I’m looking forward to working with him for one more football season. On behalf of all of us at Eleven Warriors, we congratulate Jerry on an exemplary career in sports information – one that’s spanned 33 years – and on his upcoming retirement.

 BUCKEYES ADD WALK-ON TRANSFER SAFETY. While Ohio State is done adding scholarship players for the 2025 season, the Buckeyes are still finalizing their walk-on roster for the year ahead. As such, Ohio State added another player out of the transfer portal on Wednesday when JJ Sebert, who spent last year at Bucknell, committed to the Buckeyes as a walk-on.

A native of Powell, Ohio, Sebert grew up in the Buckeyes’ backyard, finishing his high school career at Pickerington North after starting his high school career at Olentangy Liberty. He played in eight games in his lone season at Bucknell, mostly on special teams, totaling four total tackles.

Sebert is unlikely to see significant playing time at Ohio State, where he joins a loaded safety depth chart led by Caleb Downs, Malik Hartford, Jaylen McClain, Faheem Delane and Leroy Roker III. But he’ll help boost the Buckeyes’ depth behind them while getting the opportunity to return to Central Ohio and play for his hometown team.

 SONG OF THE DAY. “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” – The Beach Boys (RIP, Brian Wilson.)

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