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OL Scott Sika (official thread)

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Buckskin86

Buckskin86

Head Coach
First In Class
Courtesy: OhioStateBuckeyes.com
Release: 06/11/2010

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Two members of the 2010 Ohio State football team will be among 8,000-plus Ohio State students participating in Spring Commencement Sunday afternoon inside Ohio Stadium.

Offensive lineman Scott Sika and safety Aaron Gant will graduate after finishing their degree in four years and continue their playing careers on the field with the Buckeyes this fall in hopes of bringing a national title to Columbus. Sika will receive a degree in sport and leisure studies while Gant earned his degree in consumer services.

Sika is in the mix at both center and guard after playing in five contests in 2009 as a reserve lineman while Gant has played in 32 career games, making 23 tackles, battling injuries much of his career. The two have made it to a BCS game each year, including a pair of national championship games, while winning the Big Ten each season.

Perhaps more importantly than anything Sika and Gant have done on the field is the fact that both of them stayed on the right track academically and finished their undergraduate degree in just four years, a great accomplishment for any college student, let alone a Division I student-athlete.

"It means a lot to me because there is a lot more to being a football player at Ohio State than on the field stuff," Sika said. "Finishing in four years is pretty important to me and I'll be the fifth person in my family to graduate from here."

For Sika, playing football at Ohio State made him a better student and put him in a much better position for life after football.

"You learn how to balance your time," Sika added. "The athletics part of it really helps you focus on your academics because everything is so scheduled and it forces you to stay on task. I'm going to grad school and looking to be an athletic director or work in sports marketing because of what I have learned in my time here. I've grown up in sports and I'm looking forward to making it a career."

However, let there be no mistaking the fact that the Strongsville, Ohio native has more on his mind than pursuing his education further.

"I want to win a national title. If you ask anybody on our team, especially the seniors, we want to get that national championship and build off the strong finish and Rose Bowl victory last season."
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First In Class - The Ohio State Buckeyes Official Athletics Site - OhioStateBuckeyes.com
 
Tressel said that three senior walkons have been awarded scholarships: offensive linemen Scott Sika and Chris Malone, and tight Ricky Crawford. The news was announced at a team meeting Wednesday as the rest of the Buckeyes cheered.

"All those guys have been here a long time and have taken a lot of snaps in practice with not a whole bunch of glory and have been good citizens and good students, so we were able to reward them," Tressel said. "Ricky hasn't stopped smiling. I think he slept last night with a smile.

"Our guys know who has given a lot, and our guys know the difference between how fortunate they are that are on scholarship and those that are just fighting the fight and working part-time jobs and doing all the rest just to have chance to be part of it. It's really one of the neat things. I wish I had 10 [scholarships to give.]"

Sika, a Strongsville native who has graduated, will have an entire year of grad school paid for.
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http://www.cleveland.com/buckeyeblog/index.ssf/2010/09/ohio_state_notes_lb_sweat_may.html
 
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DaddyBigBucks;1772363; said:
LOVE this part of the program under Tressel. Not so much the fact that he does it; lots of coaches do it. It's more the way he makes a big deal out of it.
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me too. We are truly fortunate to have him as the Head Coach

:oh:
 
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OSU football: Walk-on working on rare streak
In five years, Sika has never missed practice
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
By Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

1221-sika-200.jpg

Neal C. Lauron | Dispatch
Scott Sika is the first player under Jim Tressel to not miss practice in his Ohio State career, the team says. | Browse and buy at OSUPhotoStore.com
More football

When Scott Sika goes job-hunting, he'll have something on his resume that he thinks will set him apart.

Not the fact that he was a walk-on to the Ohio State football team who earned a scholarship. There's a long line of those folks.

But how many can say they spent five years in a rigorous major college football program and never missed a practice? There might have been a handful at OSU long ago, but Sika is the first in the 10-year Jim Tressel era who can make that claim, according to trainer Doug Calland. Not that it's up there with winning the Heisman Trophy, or even being a starter, but it's the reason the offensive lineman was presented with a special Iron Man award during the team's recent appreciation banquet.

"That just shows what kind of worker you are and, in my opinion, what kind of worker you will be in future years," Sika said. "I take some pride in that. It is what it is, but I am happy to say that's something I accomplished."

He still has today's final pre-Christmas practice to attend, plus the rest of the practices leading up to the Jan.4 Sugar Bowl against Arkansas in New Orleans. But Sika didn't let a shoulder injury suffered during this year's Purdue game keep him out, so there's a good chance the perfect attendance streak will hold.

The dream for Sika, of course, was to walk on from Strongsville High School in 2006 and eventually earn not just a scholarship but a starting job. He got the scholarship this year, but it was obvious to him from the start that it was going to be uphill all the way.

"That first practice you realize how much faster the game is than the one you played in high school," said Sika, still a smallish 6 feet 2, 282 pounds. "It's an eye-opener, going up against guys like Quinn Pitcock and David Patterson and Vernon Gholston.

"But every practice, every year you get more mentally used to it, and you get stronger. You also learn about the techniques. I think the jump I made from year two to year three was tremendous, and then from year three to year four was even bigger because it allowed me to understand that if you can get the positioning and use proper technique, it's not always about who is 6-6, 310 pounds."

Cont...
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http://www.dispatch.com/live/conten...u-walk-on-working-on-rare-streak.html?sid=101
 
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Love this kind of story! It's examples like this (and another posted today on Garrett Hummel) that restore a bit of faith and hope in what college football is really all about. Note, a story like this could not happen in the SEC (oversigning).

Thank you Scott (Iron Man), and congrats!!
 
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Ohio State backup center Scott Sika doesn't miss a beat
Published: Saturday, January 01, 2011
Ted Lewis, The Times-Picayune By Ted Lewis, The Times-Picayune

If Scott Sika skipped Ohio State?s practice, few would notice. After all, he?s a little-used fifth-year senior center who didn?t get a scholarship until this season.

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But then again, his absence probably would grab some attention.

Sika was commended by Buckeyes coaches for becoming the first player in Coach Jim Tressel?s 10-year era to never miss a practice.

?At the (year-end) banquet, they always announce who didn?t miss practice,? Sika said Friday, before yet another practice session, so many that he?s lost count. ?And when it was my turn, they pointed out that I?d done it for all five years. That was cool.?

Sika is no Rudy.

He?s a 6-foot-2, 282-pounder from Strongsville, Ohio, who had offers from several of the state?s Division II and Division III programs and might have done better than that had he not missed his high school junior season with a back injury.

But he grew up dreaming of being a Buckeye, and when the invitation to walk on came in 2006, he jumped on it.

Sika, who is working on a master?s degree in sports management, didn?t get into his first game until 2008. He played in five last season and seven this season, and made the travel squad the past two years.

In Ohio State?s Senior Day finale against Michigan, he got in on the final two series.

But unless Tuesday?s Allstate Sugar Bowl game against Arkansas is a blowout for Ohio State, he likely has played his last game as a Buckeye.

That, Sika said, is OK.

?Getting in the Sugar Bowl would be nice,? he said. ?But playing against Michigan was really cool. It made it all worthwhile.?
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http://www.nola.com/sugarbowl/index.ssf/2011/01/ohio_state_backup_center_scott.html
 
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