As the college football national championship game draws closer, we thought it would be fun to delve into Ohio State and Notre Dame rosters.
We went searching for players from Medina, Portage, Stark and Summit counties who appeared on fall rosters of the Buckeyes and Fighting Irish, and, boy, there have been a lot.
It was a fun trip down memory lane from 1974-2024. Here’s what we came up with.
Ohio State Buckeyes from Greater Akron/Canton area over last 50 college football seasons
- Alliance: Larry Kinnard
- Aurora: Adam Bellamy, Joe Cech
- Barberton: Bob Robertson
- Brunswick: Gary Clift
- Buchtel: Corey Smith, Greg Shehee, Dave Ost, Antonio Pittman (also played at Barberton)
- Buckeye: Ryan Smith
- Canton Central Catholic: Nick Humphries, Dave Monnot
- Central-Hower: Ray Jackson, John Wooldridge, Nate Harris
- Canton McKinley: Eric Glover-Williams, Mike Doss, Kenny Peterson, Steve Miller, Se’Von Pittman, Zach Slagle, Tyler Everett, Andre Hooks, Jamar Martin’ Che’ Bryant, Mark Smith, Doyle Lewis, Ben Lee, Ray Ellis
- Cloverleaf: Heath Queen
- Crestwood: Aaron Cox
- Canton South: Devon Torrance
- Cuyahoga Falls: Richard Parsons
- Ellet: Jon Hill
- Firestone: Tommy Brown
- Garfield: Chris Wells, Antoine Winfield Sr., De’Angelo Haslam
- GlenOak: Dustin Fox, Bri’onte Dunn, Brian Hartline, TJ Downing, Greg Smith; Reid Worstell (also played at McKinley)
- Highland: Mike Kudla, Chris Riehm
- Hoban: DeaMonte “Chip” Trayanum, Ryan Ross
- Hoover: Jeff Logan, Curt Lukens, James Georgiades, Scott Powell
- Hudson: Mike Wargo, Alex Beck
- Kent Roosevelt: Jim DeLeone, Steve Myers
- Jackson: Tim Jones, Mark Eberts
- Lake: Steve Graef, Matt Christopher
- Louisville: Phillip Thomas, Kenneth Kuhn
- Manchester: Colby Staubs
- Massillon: Chris Spielman, Justin Zwick, Steve Luke, Gareon Conley, Devin Smith (also played at Ellet), Fred Schram, Thomas Houser, Bill Harmon, Eric Barnard, Brent Offenbecher, Wes Siegenthaler, John Schilling, Travis McGuire, Devin Jordan, Thayer Munford, Jayden Ballard, Austin Kutscher, Willtrell Hartson
- Medina: Brennen Schramm, Marcus Perez
- Nordonia: Rob Sims, Denzel Ward
- Perry: Caleb Laps, Kirk Barton, Ray Harris, Joel Kessel
- Norton: Tim Scott
- Ravenna: Jim Klohn, Paul Campbell
- Revere: Ben Christman
- Stow: Owen Fankhauser, Tom Bose
- Streetsboro: Mike Hall Jr.
- St. Thomas Aquinas: Jon Thoma
- St. Vincent-St. Mary: Parris Campbell, Doran Grant, Dante Booker, Shawn Lodge, Lawrence Wilson, Jason Simmons, Dave Houston, Ed Taggart, Jim Carson, Michael D’Andrea, James Houston, Joel Laser, James Pacenta
- Twinsburg; Jake Russell, Robbie Davis
- Walsh Jesuit: Mike Vrabel, Pat O’Neill, Darik Warnke, Noah Donald, Jack Wohlabaugh
- Waterloo: John Hutchinson
Notre Dame Fighting Irish from Greater Akron/Canton area over last 50 college football seasons
- Aurora: Byron Spruell
- Barberton: Jim Stock
- Canton Central Catholic: Mark Fischer, Chris Wachtel
- Canton McKinley: Dean Brown
- Hoban: Pat Kramer
- Hudson: Greg Mailey
- Revere: John Farren
- St. Vincent-St. Mary: Frank Stams
- Wadsworth: Mitchell Evans
- Walsh Jesuit: Tom Lopienski, John Rice, Hal Von Wyl
How did we do?
When you peruse a combined 100 seasons of football rosters, there’s a chance a name could slip through the cracks. If you see someone from the area who played for the Buckeyes or Irish from 1974-2024 not on the list, email us at the address below and we’ll add him.
Hope you had fun going down memory lane like we did.
Contact Brad Bournival at bbournival@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @bbournival
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