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LB Freddie Lenix (Cincinnati signee; transfer to Notre Dame College)

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RugbyBuck said:
I apologize for the redundancy, if this has already been covered ad nauseum. That said, could Lennix play running back for us? Is he a viable option there?
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Yes, but I think the coaches realize his value on the defensive side. Add in the lack of serious OLB depth after this year, and that will give Anderson Russell first crack at RB. Also, the word from the BN insiders is that Ira could be back for Spring
 
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If we were in the situation we were two years ago I could see considering someone like Lenix getting a try at RB - that situation being where we needed someone to step up and contribute on the field now.

However, barring injury we have three quality RBs next year and no reason to suggest Lenix would be better than any of them. Why give a future LB reps at RB so you can RS him at that position? If you want to RS someone at RB RS Anderson.
 
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Anyone who EVER doubts what role Ted Ginn Sr. plays in these young men's lives needs to read this and be grateful that there is such a man to help these guys live better lives...

The star sprinter who didn't run
Glenville's Lenix balances fatherhood with school, sports; he'll stay the course to college to provide for son Freddie Jr.
Thursday, April 21, 2005Bob Migra
Plain Dealer Reporter
Freddie Lenix, one of the most gifted football and track athletes in Cleveland, could face any situation he encountered in competition.

Finding out his girlfriend was pregnant was something else. He had been dating a South High student for more than a year when he got the news early in the summer after his sophomore year, in 2003.

"When I found out she was pregnant, I was scared," said Lenix, a senior at Glenville. "All I could think was, 'What am I going to do?' I didn't know how to handle it."

So he didn't. He told no one. His girlfriend, who declined to be interviewed, was already three to four months pregnant when she got medical confirmation. Freddie, 19, hid the pregnancy from his family and friends until two weeks before the baby was born.

His mother, Joyce, could tell her son was under a lot of stress.

"He had a lot on his plate," Joyce Lenix said. "He was short-tempered, going off on everybody for no reason. I kept asking him what was bothering him. I told him he needed to see a psychologist."

Eventually the reason for her son's behavior had to come out.

Lenix decided to call his father, Michael Ivory, even though he did not have much contact with him. Freddie figured his father could help because he faced the same situation when Freddie's unmarried mother got pregnant years earlier.

"He ended up telling my mom," Lenix said. "She didn't flip. She just told me things happen and I'd have to work it out."

Joyce Lenix said she was disappointed because she had always preached abstinence, or at least using protection, to her son. She told him it wasn't the end of the world, and his family would be there to support him.

Freddie Jr. was born on Oct. 3, 2003, in the middle of the football season, as the Tarblooders were wrapping up another Senate Athletic League championship. The season ended with a dramatic loss to St. Ignatius in the playoffs.

Lenix began to settle into his new routine as a father. The two families worked out schedules to share caring for the infant, now 18 months, so Freddie and the baby's mother could stay in school. Although they are no longer dating, they maintain shared parenting roles. Freddie Jr. splits his time between the two households.

Freddie does his share of watching his son, feeding him and changing diapers. His mother and sister, Michelle, and other family members take turns babysitting during Freddie's turns as guardian.

But Freddie wanted to do more, so he took a job in December, 2003, at Ridge House, a home for mentally retarded and developmentally disabled men in Parma, where his mother worked. He did cleaning and fed, watched and bathed the residents for a little more than minimum wage. He became popular with the men, who enjoyed following his athletic exploits.

By the middle of the 2004 track season, as the Tarblooders were on their way to what was arguably the greatest season ever by an Ohio boys team, the stresses again started getting to Freddie.

On the Monday following the Penn Relays, where the Tarblooders won the 4x100 and 4x400 relay races on national television, Freddie told track and football coach Ted Ginn he was quitting track and dropping out of school to work full time to support his son.

"He just wasn't able to manage all that," Ginn said. "He was trying to work a job, run track, do his schoolwork and be a dad. He started eliminating what he didn't think was important — school and track."

Ginn told Freddie that dropping out of school might seem like a good idea in the short term, but it is not the best way for him to support his son.

"They tell you they want to be a better father for the kid by not going to school, but how is that going to help?" Ginn said.

Ginn said the best way for Freddie to take care of his son was to graduate from high school and go on to college. He was certain to get a football or track scholarship, and he might have the ability to play in the NFL someday. Even if he never plays pro football, he would be much better off with a college degree.

His mother gave him the same advice.

Freddie was not easily persuaded, until Ginn showed up at his house one evening to talk with him and his family.

"I thought I had lost Freddie," Ginn said. "Me and Freddie almost came to blows over [him quitting track and school]."

Freddie was surprised by Ginn's emotional outpouring.

"I could tell I really hurt him," Freddie said. "I couldn't sleep at all that night."

Two days later, at a sports banquet, Freddie showed up with his long braids cut off, a symbol of the new Freddie, and a fresh commitment to school and sports.

"Coach Ginn stepped into my father's spot," Freddie said. "He made sure I had somebody to talk to. I told him I was going to listen to him and that's why I'm in the situation I'm in now."

Freddie ran on three state-championship relay teams a little over a month later, helping the Tarblooders shatter the all-division record for team points in a state track meet. Last fall, he accepted a full-ride football scholarship from Ohio State and earned All-Ohio honors as one of the state's top linebackers.

Lenix said a lot of people contributed to his success. In addition to helping take care of "Little Freddie," his family members helped with cash contributions whenever possible so Freddie could quit his job at Ridge House.

He got plenty of encouragement from his sister, who had a daughter while she was in school, but still graduated from East High, in 1998.

"I told him to finish school, so I wasn't going to let him drop out," Michelle Lenix said. "Freddie's a very good athlete, but if you drop out of school, what good is that? All he's going to get is some dead-end job."

Donte Cloud, who graduated from Glenville last spring and is attending the University of Akron on a football scholarship, was one of the only people other than the mother who knew early on that Freddie was going to be a father. Cloud's girlfriend, who knew Freddie's girlfriend, got pregnant around the same time. Cloud's child was born the day after Freddie's.

Cloud said he told Lenix he had to do the right thing and be a father to his child, even though he wasn't going to stay in a relationship with the mother.

"I grew up with my dad, so I always felt like I was supposed to be there for my kid," Cloud said. "Freedie was the opposite because he grew up with his mother. His father wasn't there for him, but I told him he had to be there for his son."

"Lenix said he is happy with the decisions he made. He enjoys being a dad, playing with Freddie Jr. and watching him grow. One of the reasons he chose Ohio State was to be close enough to home to spend time with his son during breaks from classes and football.

He said he is grateful for moments like the day he came home from track practice last spring and 7-month old Freddie Jr. took his first steps.

"He was holding himself up on the leg of the table," Lenix said. "Then he sees me and starts wobbling toward me. Every time after he got better and better. That was something."
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Great story, the more I hear about Ginn Sr. the more amazed I am at how much class he has and that he is simply a great man. An update on Freddie:

At the Don Mitchell Roosevelt Invitational (May 7th) in Dayton, Freddie took 2nd in the 100 (10.80) and won the 200 (21.67). Glenville also won all three sprint relays (not sure which 2 Freddie ran), and destroyed the field (teams from at least 4 states) by 46.5 points.
 
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Freddie Involved in Car Accident

FYI-

It was reported in the Plain Dealer that Freddie missed the Glenville track meet this weekend because he was invoilved in a car accident and suffered a concussion.

doesn't sound like it is too serious, but scary nonetheless...

I hope he's feeling better
 
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Lenix in Minor Accident

FYI-

It was reported in the Plain Dealer (per Coach Ginn) that Freddie missed the Glenville track meet this weekend because he was invoilved in a car accident and suffered a concussion.

doesn't sound like it is too serious, but scary nonetheless...

I hope he's feeling better

[i posted this in recruiting forum as well, but seemed like it was buried and maybe not the right place for it]
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