ATLANTA — This is a football story about love. About loyalty. About the things that once defined a sport before money and NIL and the transfer portal swarmed its very infrastructure.
No, this is something different. Something pure. Something everlasting. Something at the very fabric of what defines college football’s innermost brilliance—the intimate connection between a city and its people.
For Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer, the star of the College Football Playoff, the national championship on Monday night isn’t simply the biggest game of his college football career.
It’s the biggest game of his life, one more than 20 years in the making, and that likely won’t change once he’s found his NFL home months from now.
“I remember running around with an Ohio State jersey on in the backyard,” Sawyer says. “This is something I’ve dreamed about since I was a little kid.”
The connection between player and program is almost too good to be true. It’s a story this writer told before in June of 2020, back when Sawyer was nothing more than a local kid readying for the enormity of his arrival.
He was born at OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital, which sits less than three miles from Ohio Stadium. He played his high school football at Pickerington High School North, where he grew into a 5-star prospect and one of the most coveted high school football players in America.
During his time at Pickerington, Sawyer, who was also a star basketball player with offers to play in college, moonlighted at quarterback when the team’s starter went down.
Even now, before the games begin and Sawyer settles into his true defensive calling, the remnants of his tenure at the position jump out every now and then.
“When he warms up before a game, I would say he’s in the top three or four on our team throwing the ball,” Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly says. “That includes the quarterbacks. He’s as good of a person and player as I’ve ever been around.”
Ryan Day knew these things. It’s why when taking over for Urban Meyer, on the very first day he was able to meet with recruits, the head coach found himself at Pickerington around the time the sun cracked the horizon.
In many ways, Day’s chase for championship, which has come with plenty of turbulent moments, aligns with Sawyer’s path. They have lived these moments together.
“He’s like family,” Day says. “He is. Being the first real commit and a guy who recruited others on defense and offense, he was a leader from the jump. Being a Buckeye meant more to him.”
While the marriage between player and program was perfect, it did not begin the way many, including Day, first envisioned.
“This is a guy who overcame some things,” Day adds. “He didn’t just come in as a freshman, dominate, and leave in three years for the NFL as a first round draft pick.”
Indeed, Sawyer did not take college football by storm as many expected, at least at first.
While he contributed as a freshman and a sophomore—totaling 7.5 sacks—his performance fell shy of what many were expecting. After showcasing far more flashes as a junior, delivering 6.5 sacks and 10 tackles for loss, it was assumed that Sawyer, like many of his Ohio State teammates, would leave for the NFL.
Only he, like many others on this roster, decided to return. And the decision to do so has changed the trajectory of this program and his life.
Sawyer was voted as team captain back in August, a moment Day summarized as “emotional.” Sawyer parlayed this honor into a strong regular season, albeit one that culminated in a loss to rival Michigan.
From that moment forward, however, the defensive end has entered another stratosphere. In three playoff games, Sawyer has broken up seven passes and delivered 4.5 sacks.
More notably, in a play that could ultimately define the college football season, Sawyer secured a win in the College Football Playoff semifinal against Texas with the Longhorns looking to tie the game, sacking quarterback (and former roommate) Quinn Ewers, forcing a fumble, and returning that fumble 83 yards for a touchdown.
His teammate, fellow standout defensive lineman J.T. Tuimoloau, did his darndest to keep up with Sawyer on the long return. Perhaps more than anyone on the roster, Tuimoloau, who is a star in his own right, has watched Sawyer’s arrival finally take place.
“Legendary,” Tuimoloau says of his teammate. “He has put his name in the books, and he’s not done yet. His story is not done being written.”
The path was not the one many expected. It featured losses to Michigan that Sawyer, as a lifelong Buckeye, will undoubtedly stew over for the rest of his life. It was also longer than most anticipated—a 5-star recruit finishing out all four years at the same program.
In an era of NIL and roster mobility, the very notion is almost unheard of. Sawyer, in many respects, is a unicorn. He is a constant in an era of change.
The reason for this, of course, transcends the complicated economics now engulfing the sport. This was a moment more than 20 years in the making. It began in the backyard, and it will end in Mercedes Benz Stadium on Monday.
“I think he’ll go down in history as one of the greatest Buckeyes of all time in a program that has had a lot of great players,” Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said. “Jack will live in infamy for the plays he made but also the spirit and leadership he brought to the program.”
No matter the outcome, Sawyer’s legacy will carry onward.
He and his head coach will share a bond that carries forward for the rest of his life. And although Ohio State fans can be more demanding than any fan base in the country, Sawyer will enter a space of Buckeye lore reserved for very few.
“I’m happy to be competing in the National Championship, putting on the uniform one last time for these guys, for Coach Day, and for the city,” Sawyer says. “The plan is to bring a National Championship back to Columbus.”