Why he got elected one of the team captains.....
Given that premise ahead of time, one might have assumed returning defensive end Zach Harrison – a first-time captain last season – would hold that title again during his senior season. When Ohio State announced its captains after this past Saturday’s preseason scrimmage, though, that was not the case.
Buckeye players bestowed the honor upon a player who neither played a snap last year nor expected the status of captain in general. But in battling back from an ACL tear to return to the fold this season, fifth-year defensive end Tyler Friday earned the captain tag just as much for his leadership off the field as he did for his play on it.
"FRIDAY'S A GUY THAT THE OLDER GUYS, THE OTHER LEADERS GO TO FOR ADVICE AND GO TO FOR WHEN THEY GOT SOMETHING ON THEIR MIND."– ZACH HARRISON ON TYLER FRIDAY
Harrison has spent his entire college career with Friday by his side, and said he’s been consistently reliable throughout the past four years. Even as a former captain himself, Harrison said Friday has been a shoulder to lean on in times of uncertainty.
“Friday's been a leader since the day I walked in the building. Friday's a guy that the older guys, the other leaders go to for advice and go to for when they got something on their mind,” Harrison said. “I go to Friday when things aren't going right. And I know that Friday is gonna have my back and I got Friday's back. So having him as a captain and being one of the leaders on the team, it's like I expected it from day one that he was going to be one of those guys who put the team on his back and just led us to where we want to go.”
“Oh, man, that's the guy. You guys heard his story, he came in hurt and just came back grinding. You know, he came back like he never left,” Tuimoloau said. “A lot of these dudes missed him from last year and to see him out there is great. Just to see him out there, we missed him. But Tyler deserved it, he did everything to become a captain.”
Upon receiving the news this weekend, the Fridays were moved to tears.
“It was a crazy reaction from my parents. They wasn't expecting that at all,” Friday said. “I just kind of just told them they was gonna be getting a call soon, so they didn't know what that meant – good news or bad news. So once they finally heard it, they was excited, very emotional. I wasn't with them, but my mom said they did cry after the phone call.”