Hard-working lineman has gotten the most out
of his OSU experience
Thursday, December 3, 2009
By Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
TEAM PLAYER: Andrew Moses (66) gathers with his Ohio State teammates before taking the field against Michigan on Nov. 21. (Neal C. Lauron, Dispatch)
Andrew Moses did not want to wear the big "X" on his helmet.
It was the spring of 1997, and 10-year-old Andrew was well over the weight limit to play for the fifth-grade team at St. Andrew School in Upper Arlington. The overweight kids could practice, but were singled out with the dreaded "X."
"He was a pudgy kid," Ann Moses said of her son, now 22. "He said to me, 'Mom, I want to lose weight.'"
Every day, Andrew and sometimes Ann would walk or jog. His older brother, Chris, taught him football drills to do in the yard. He studied calories and fat content.
In three months, he dropped 24 pounds, from 158 to 134, and made the limit with a pound to spare.
"I was flabbergasted - this was a 10-year-old kid," Ann Moses said. "I told him recently that that was when I realized he was going to be a force to be reckoned with. When you wanted something, you were going to do it."
Twelve years later, Andrew Moses has gone from counting calories to counting blessings. As a fifth-year senior offensive lineman at Ohio State, now he tallies numbers such as grade-point average (3.87) and number of games played for the Buckeyes (26).
He's certainly not a star, but he may have come further than any of his teammates - from an undersized walk-on to a bona fide contributor, while completing one degree and closing in on another in the rigorous honors program.
Add on an internship in the Statehouse office of Gov. Ted Strickland last summer, and it's clear that Moses has squeezed every last drop out of his college experience.
"I knew I was blessed to have such an opportunity, just to make it at Ohio State, and I knew I had to do something with it," Moses said. "I didn't want to have any regrets or wish I would've done something differently. And in some ways, maybe it was a fear of not living up to what I should be.
"I didn't know what that was, but I would keep trying, and keep showing up every day."
