Buckskin86
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[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTnX-G-akS4]YouTube - OSU vs. Purdue 2009: Cameron Heyward[/ame]
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Heyward following in father?s footsteps
Vinny Pezzimenti
Who exactly is this Cameron Heyward?
For opposing offensive linemen, it usually doesn?t take long to find out. All they have to do is look the Ohio State defensive end in the eyes.
Well, just under the eyes. Written in the eye black beneath one is IRON. Under the other is HEAD.
That?s when the pieces start to come together.
You can picture it now: An overmatched tackle trudges back to the huddle, shakes his head, and says to himself, ?Damn that Ironhead. Why did he have to have a son who goes 6-foot-6, 287-pounds and who owns a high-energy motor??
For Heyward, thoughts of his father pierce through his mind several times during any given day. Craig ?Ironhead? Heyward might have died more than three years ago but the former Pitt star and 11-year NFL veteran lives on through his son.
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?Hopefully,? Heyward said this week, ?I can be half as good as the man he was.?
Heyward?s bloodlines are evident in the way he smashes and dashes with his huge body on the football field. Instead of flattening linebackers like his father did as a bowling ball of a running back, Heyward pancakes quarterbacks and running backs and is a key force for a Buckeyes defense that ranks as one of the nation?s best heading into this afternoon?s game against Penn State at Beaver Stadium.
A junior, he is also an NFL prospect, sure to follow in the footsteps of Ironhead. But Heyward recalls little of his father?s career, which started in 1988 and included years with the New Orleans Saints, Chicago Bears, Atlanta Falcons, St. Louis Rams and Indianapolis Colts.
?I didn?t pay attention to (his career) as much as I do now,? Heyward said. ?I just remember him running over people.?
Heyward?s parents divorced when he was younger ? Cameron writes his mother?s name, Charlotte, on one game cleat, and Ironhead?s on the other ? and Ironhead admitted in an interview after his playing days that he had alcohol and eating problems. Those could be reasons for the disconnect.
But Heyward helped care for his father in his final days.
Ironhead died at the age of 39 in May 2006 after seven years of battling a recurring brain tumor. Near the end, he also suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed and lost his vision as a result of a tumor known as chordoma.
southcampus;1587997; said:I admire his tenacity. Cam is a [censored]ing MAN. He got [censored]ing held so bad on the one play that he was actually tackled. What does he do? He keeps playing! Doesn't ask for a flag or anything. That's a [censored]ing baller right there. Mean-ass, hard nose baller.
Guys, I'm gonna go out on a limb here, but I honestly think Cam Heyward is the best all around D lineman Tressel has ever had. Truly proud, as always, to be a Buckeye.
buckeyes_rock;1587984; said:Hey Penn State O-lineman...who's your daddy?...CAM HEYWARD!!