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Bain, of Virginia Beach, walks on at Ohio State
By Ed Miller
The Virginian-Pilot
? September 15, 2010
Dan Bain, a 21-year-old college senior from Virginia Beach, is one of five walk-ons to make the Ohio State University team.
He thought he'd play linebacker. That made sense. Dan Bain did the research and concluded that was the position that best suited his body type and physical abilities.
There were a couple of small hurdles to overcome, though. Bain, a 21-year-old college senior from Virginia Beach, had not played organized football since the eighth grade. And the team for whom he intended to play linebacker was Ohio State, a frequent contender for the national championship.
He hatched the idea in June 2009, and after more than a year of preparation survived an unforgiving winnowing process and, improbably, ran out of the tunnel at Ohio Stadium in front of 105,000 OSU faithful for the Buckeyes' opener against Marshall.
"There were a couple of times when I was wondering, 'Am I really capable of this?' " Bain said this week. "But I kept my faith and did it one day at a time. A lot of people reached out to help me, and I was able to stay mentally strong, which was the most important."
Understand, Bain is no modern-day Rudy Ruettiger, who emerged from the student body to make the team at Notre Dame in the mid-1970s. Bain already was a varsity athlete at OSU: a midfielder on the lacrosse team. And he'd played a pretty mean quarterback at Princess Anne Middle School before giving up the sport.
Still, he had not made a tackle in seven years before he decided to take a stab at making the No. 2 team in the nation.
"Since I was here at Ohio State, I thought I'd give it a shot," he said. "I felt that even though I hadn't played football, I was athletic enough."
Bain was a three-year starter and two-time captain of the lacrosse team at Cape Henry Collegiate. Recruited by Virginia, Dartmouth, Cornell and several other schools, he visited Ohio State on a football weekend and committed right then.
Bain stood behind the linebackers as they warmed up during his visit and snapped cell phone pictures of All-American James Laurinaitis. In the back of his mind, he wondered what it would be like to be back on the field, in pads, in one of college football's most electric environments.
After two years of lacrosse in which he earned two letters and academic All-Big Ten honors, he was ready to find out.
"I kind of lost interest with lacrosse," he said.
Football was calling. The 6-foot-3 Bain began lifting weights hard, going from 210 pounds to 230 in six months.
The next stop was an open cattle call: a student body tryout that drew more than 100 hopefuls in January. Those who made the cut were invited to participate in winter workouts. Those who survived that were invited to spring practice.
Spring practice culminated with the spring game in front of 60,000 at Ohio Stadium. Bain's parents, Steve and Denise, showed up for the game not knowing what to expect. They figured they'd snap a few pictures of their son in his uniform, in case he never got on the field.
To their surprise, Bain was on the coverage team on the opening kickoff and played linebacker in the fourth quarter. It was more than anyone had expected.
He still had not made the team, though. The NCAA allows just 105 players to participate in preseason camp, and Bain was initially not on the list. The team's strength and conditioning coach spoke up for him, however, and head coach Jim Tressel added Bain to the squad. He's one of just five walk-ons to make it this year.
Being part of the 105 means Bain dresses for home games and would travel to the Buckeyes' bowl game, which in their case could be the national championship game.
Right now, Bain is on the scout team, and he was named that unit's player of the week after the Marshall game. He also made the team's "Tenacious top 10" list awarded by coaches.
Bain's immediate goal is to earn a spot on special teams. An English major, he's on track to graduate in the spring but hopes to come back and play next fall.
"It's been phenomenal, just to be a part of this," he said.
Tressel said Bain is one of several players who never played high school football to make the team over the years. Others came from rugby and soccer backgrounds, he said.
"Dan is a hard worker and really wants to learn and understand the game," Tressel said in a statement provided by Ohio State's media relations office. "He is a quality athlete who is adapting his skills to the rigors of college football. We are glad to have men like Dan Bain in the Buckeye family."
There is likely no one on the team happier to be there.
http://hamptonroads.com/2010/09/bain-virginia-beach-walks-ohio-state
