Fork Union actually has two football teams, and Ohio State has connections with a player on each.
Hyde plays for the postgraduate team, players who have graduated from high school and either fell short academically of college requirements, or who did not get a major college scholarship offer and hope that a year at Fork Union will get them more exposure.
There also is a more traditional prep team, for kids who have been sent to military school for the usual reason -- discipline.
Jamel Turner, a defensive end from Youngstown, plays on that team. He committed to Ohio State's 2010 class and had attended Ursuline High School until this year. But he comes from a difficult family background, and the hope is that a year at Fork Union will help him.
This is what prep schools can do for a college program -- rehabilitate a recruit, whether the problem is academic or disciplinary.
"If you sign a kid and he doesn't qualify, what do you do?" former Ohio State coach John Cooper said. "You don't want to leave him on the street, so you put him in prep school."
Shuman said a number of his players have been "placed" in Fork Union by college coaches with whom Shuman has a relationship. Even though the player is no longer bound to go where he originally committed, the gentleman's agreement is that if the player makes the grade, he will go back to that college.
"The coach protects him for you," Cooper said.
