The Road to Ohio State

Overview

Back to the start and behind the scenes on the Buckeyes recruiting trail

Author Biography

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Press Releases

The Road to Ohio State: Incredible Twists and Improbable Turns Along the Ohio State Buckeyes Recruiting Trail

By Doug Lesmerises / Foreword by Ryan Day

Contact: Scott King, IPG, 312-568-5423, sking@ipgbook.com

The Ohio State University didn’t become a college football powerhouse overnight. It took thorough recruiting from coaches like Woody Hayes, Jim Tressel, Urban Meyer, and Ryan Day to land the Buckeyes top players up to the task of taking the program to great heights.

In The Road to Ohio State, Doug Lesmerises details what had to go right, and sometimes wrong, to make OSU the storied program it is today. In addition to being kings of the living room, the coaches needed some luck in recruiting a who’s who of pigskin talent. Such bounces and events that went in favor of Buckeyes football and their sideline maestros in the book involve:

• How Mark Pantoni, Ohio State’s recruiting guru, tried to get the Florida Gators to recruit Joey Bosa while Pantoni still worked at Florida, and the Gators weren’t interested. Then Pantoni came to Ohio State.
• Kenny Guiton’s life changing because an assistant coach happened to be in his hometown of Houston the day that Ohio State needed a quarterback recruit.
• Cam Heyward having to navigate the recruiting process with his mother, Charlotte, right after the death of his father, NFL player Craig Heyward.
• A look inside the historic private meeting Kirk Herbstreit witnessed between Bo Schembechler and Earle Bruce after the 1987 OSU-Michigan game … which Herbstreit attended as a Michigan guest.
• Cornelius Green almost committing to Michigan State, but having a terrible visit there – a fact that the Michigan State coach recruiting him didn’t know until this book.

The Road to Ohio State is a behind-the-scenes account of how a titan of a college football program was built, told by those who witnessed history being made and by those who helped build it. Buckeyes fans won’t want to miss the candid first-hand accounts of how OSU football and what it represents was constructed. 

About the Author:

Doug Lesmerises is a sports columnist for Cleveland.com and the former Ohio State sports beat writer for Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer from 2005 to 2016. Doug currently hosts The College Football Playoff Show podcast and The Buckeye Talk Podcast.

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