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QB Gunnar Hoak (Official Thread)

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Gunnar Hoak Happy to be Back Home at Ohio State
August 5, 2019by Tony Gerdeman0 comments
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It was the Game of the Century.

Thirteen years ago, it was one versus two. The only time in history that Ohio State and Michigan met as the top two teams in the nation.

You’ll never forget it.


Neither will Gunnar Hoak.

Because he was there.

Hoak transferred to Ohio State from Kentucky in the spring, but he was a Buckeye long before Ryan Day and OSU reached out to him in the transfer portal.

Gunnar’s father Frank played at Ohio State under Woody Hayes. His uncle is former OSU tight end and defensive assistant Fred Pagac, and his cousin is former Buckeye middle linebacker Fred Pagac, Jr.

And even though Gunnar Hoak’s helmet has a black stripe down the middle of it, he is already a Buckeye.

“Just the family tradition there and how my dad played here,” he said of his decision to transfer to Ohio State. “I’ve had a cousin play here, an uncle coach here. Just being a part of that legacy and tradition there is at Ohio State, it’s awesome and can further my future. I can get a masters program from Ohio State, it’s awesome.”

Hoak grew up in nearby Dublin, Ohio and plans to work on a master’s degree in coaching. While the tradition was always a pull for him, getting the opportunity to play and learn under Ryan Day was also an opportunity that Hoak is thrilled to be a part of.

“Ever since I started talking to Ohio State, I loved coach Day,” he said. “He’s a great guy and I saw what he did last year with Dwayne [Haskins] and stuff like that. That’s something to be a part of. It’s going to be great.”

Hoak literally put himself out there this spring, stepping into the transfer portal hoping his dream school would come calling. One day later, they did.

“I was a little nervous at first because what if you enter the portal and the school you want to go to isn’t there and you can’t find a good situation,” he said. “I’m sure that’s happened to a few guys out there. When you had something going at Kentucky, you can get your masters there and stuff like that. It’s a little nerve-wracking at first, but obviously Ohio State stepped in and I’m glad to be here.”

Hoak wasn’t sure if Ohio State would come calling, and he didn’t transfer with the Buckeyes being his only goal.

He was simply looking for a new opportunity to continue his playing career and his education. The fact that he now gets to do that at Ohio State has convinced him he made the correct decision.

“Coming home, that’s one of the bigger parts of it,” he said. “Like I’ve been saying, the tradition here at Ohio State, that’s always been a dream of mine, ever since I was a little kid. I came to a ton of games here. So that was a huge part of it, coming here and being a part of this team.

“I’ve got a family legacy. I wanted to come home and just be a part of the tradition here. It’s awesome. A great path to take and I just wanted to be a part of it.”


https://theozone.net/2019/08/gunnar...FQZymSavgdTwHueMSIoZhkEhA5gzXlIE7x2bHpgsCdMaY
 
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6 Buckeye Football Players Facing Important Springs: Offense

Spring practice might not be the most high-profile time of year for college football teams, but for many players it can define their career.

Once the team gets more than a week or two into fall camp, the focus starts shifting toward the season.

Once the season starts, the focus is almost entirely on the next week’s game.

But spring ball is different. The previous season’s seniors and NFL Draft departees are gone, leaving not just open slots on the depth chart, but opportunity in their wake.

All the snaps taken last fall by guys like J.K. Dobbins, Chase Young, and Jeff Okudah are now up for grabs. That opens up chances for talented younger players like Master Teague, Zach Harrison, and Cameron Brown who played a part-time role in 2019 to rise up and claim a bigger spot on the 2020 Buckeyes.

It’s also a chance for some players who have been around for a few years, but not yet made their mark to start doing so.

Ohio State is annually among the top programs in the nation for attracting talented high school stars. That’s great for the Buckeyes on the whole – fantastic high school players often turn into fantastic college players.

But for guys who are still fighting for a spot on the two-deep after a couple seasons in the program, those freshmen represent another group of talented competition trying to beat them out for a spot on the field.

A player’s third or fourth spring in the program can be the difference between finally winning a spot in the rotation, like Baron Browning and Amir Riep did in 2019, and getting totally buried on the depth chart.

Here’s a look at six players on offense facing very important springs entering their third year or later, with the opportunity to take the next step toward earning regular playing time.

QB Gunnar Hoak, RS Senior

Of all the players on this list, Hoak has had one of the more winding paths to get to this point.

The son of a former Buckeye and a graduate of Dublin Coffman High School, Hoak grew up dreaming of playing for Ohio State. He camped at OSU in high school, but never earned an offer.

He spent three years as a backup at Kentucky, before coming home to OSU as a grad transfer in 2019.

Hoak was the third-string quarterback last fall, but with Chris Chugunov now out of eligibility, the backup spot behind Justin Fields is his for the taking.

With a year of experience in the system, Hoak figures to open spring practice as a clear-cut No. 2 on the depth chart, but he’ll need a good spring and fall camp to hold off talented true freshman C.J. Stroud and Jack Miller to serve as the primary backup for Justin Fields this fall.

Entire article: https://theozone.net/2020/01/5-buckeye-football-players-facing-important-springs-offense/
 
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Gunnar Hoak ‘a part of something great’ at Ohio State

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Gunnar Hoak’s path to the Ohio State quarterback room had a few more twists and turns than some of his teammates.

Hoak grew up just outside Columbus, a huge Buckeye fan. As a little kid, he walked through the enormous gray arches and into the Horseshoe to watch his favorite team play.

He was in the stands for the epic No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown between Ohio State and Michigan in 2006. Although Hoak was just 10 at the time, when he was asked about it prior to the Fiesta Bowl, he remembered it like it just happened.

“Team up north, it was like 42-39, it was the one versus two game. That was the best game ever,” he said.

Tickets for that game weren’t easy to come by, but having a dad who played for the Buckeyes certainly helped.

Frank Hoak was a tight end during the Earle Bruce era, rooming with the team’s star linebacker Chris Spielman, and earning a letter during the coach’s final season in 1987.

He told his son stories about his playing days, including winning Gold Pants for victories over Michigan.

For a while, it looked like the kid from Dublin might get a chance to follow in his dad’s footsteps. Gunnar Hoak developed into a star quarterback at Dublin Coffman, throwing for 2,584 yards with 30 touchdowns and only three interceptions as a junior. He went to summer camps at Ohio State, hoping to convince the coaching staff to offer him a scholarship. But that offer never came, and Hoak committed to Kentucky instead.

He spent three seasons as a backup at Kentucky, but was stuck behind an incumbent starter on the depth chart. Hoak earned his degree in agricultural economics in just three years, graduating in May 2019.

At that point, OSU had just lost Tate Martell and Matthew Baldwin to transfers, and had only two scholarship quarterbacks on the roster. With Hoak able to play immediately and having two seasons of eligibility left, it was an obvious match. There were places that offered a clearer path to the starting job, but Hoak knew why he wanted to be a Buckeye.

“The legacy, the tradition that’s here and winning games and being a part of something great,” he said.

Entire article: https://theozone.net/2020/02/ohio-state-quarterback-gunnar-hoak/

Just sayin': Nobody is going to beat out Fields for the staring QB spot. I would really like to see guy "step up" his game and win the back up QB spot for 2020. Additionally it would allow both C.J. Stroud and Jack Miller to play in just 4 games each and "red shirt", saving both of them a year of eligibility, etc.
 
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SKULL SESSION: JOSH FRYAR DISCUSSES HIS NEW BUCKEYE FAMILY, TERRY MCLAURIN THINKS CHASE YOUNG IS BETTER THEN EITHER BOSA, AND GUNNAR HOAK IS HAPPY TO BE A BUCKEYE

HOAK IS HAPPY. Given that Kentucky's best option at quarterback for the bulk of this season was a wide receiver, there's a solid chance Gunnar Hoak would have been the Wildcats' starter had he stayed at Kentucky.

Hoak's well aware of that, be he ain't playing that game. He's glad he came to Ohio State, regardless of what happened at Kentucky.

While Hoak was enjoying his first season as a Buckeye, he couldn’t help but notice what was happening at his old school. Terry Wilson, the starting quarterback who had played ahead of Hoak at Kentucky, suffered a season-ending knee injury in just the second week of the season. If Hoak was still in Lexington, he likely would have been the new starter.

“You can play the ‘what if?’ game but I’m always big that there’s always a plan. God has a plan for everything,” Hoak said. “So that’s the path I’ve chosen. I love it. I’ve been enjoying it. I’m glad to be here.”

The path Hoak chose has already worked out pretty well. The little boy who heard stories about Gold Pants from his dad has now earned a pair of his own. He’s getting a Big Ten championship ring, too.

Hoak's going to be competing with true freshmen C.J. Stroud and Jack Miller for the backup quarterback spot this offseason.

But even if he ends up as the fourth-string quarterback and rarely finds his way onto the field this season either, I guarantee he'll still look back on his decision to transfer to Ohio State as a positive one, because being a Buckeye means that much to him.

I respect the hell out of that.

Entire article: https://www.elevenwarriors.com/skul...urin-thinks-chase-young-is-better-then-either
 
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QB: GUNNAR HOAK

For obvious reasons, Ohio State would prefer that Hoak never has to take a meaningful snap in 2020. But although Fields never missed a game last season, there were a few injury scares – most notably at Michigan, where Chris Chugunov had to replace Fields mid-drive for seven plays before Fields came back into the game to throw a touchdown – and with Chugunov gone, Hoak is now the only other quarterback on the roster who has ever played in a collegiate game.

Outside of Fields, Stroud and Jack Miller have gotten most of the attention among Ohio State quarterbacks this offseason, as it’s likely that one of them will be the Buckeyes’ next starting quarterback after Fields. Given that both of them are true freshmen, though, Hoak’s experience as a backup quarterback will be important in 2020. Stroud and Miller both offer more upside, and either of them could emerge as the No. 2 quarterback this year, but they still have to prove they’re ready to play at the collegiate level. If they aren’t by September, Hoak could be the next man up at least to begin the season.
 
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Gunnar Hoak ready for backup opportunity for Buckeyes

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Gunnar Hoak is in a good position as Ohio State enters a quiet summer.

That wasn’t quite the case in the offseason after a recruiting cycle was filled with intrigue at quarterback. Then two fresh faces in the room for winter conditioning. Both C.J. Stroud and Jack Miller grabbed headlines as the future of the Buckeyes program, battling for the backup job behind Heisman Trophy favorite Justin Fields this upcoming season.

And then there’s Hoak, who has flown under the radar since transferring to Ohio State last May. The former Kentucky quarterback was part of the pseudo quarterback competition last year with Fields, but slipped back to the third-stringer as he learned the playbook and worked to find a rhythm in the offense.

Now with minimal spring reps for the two freshmen and an entire playbook studied for a full year, Hoak is ready to be the backup quarterback and do whatever he needs to do in order to see the Buckeyes win.

“Every day, you have to go in and do your job,” Hoak said in December. “That’s how I’ve always gone about football: You have to go in and do your job. You go in and you help the team do whatever you can. You go in every day and have a great attitude, help the guys in front of you and everyone around you. That’s the main goal for us, help us win.”

How can Hoak help the Buckeyes win? Well, it starts with using Chris Chugunov as an example. The graduate transfer Hoak wasn’t thrust into games last season like Chugunov was, but Hoak saw how vital Chugunov was to the Buckeyes. When Justin Fields briefly went down against Michigan, Chugunov had to step in and complete a pass to extend a drive, which later was capped off when Fields threw a touchdown pass upon returning.

Entire article: https://lettermenrow.com/ohio-state...ball-buckeyes-quarterback-depth-chart-backup/

Hoak grew up rooting for Ohio State – he named the Buckeyes’ 42-39 win over Michigan in the 2006 “Game of the Century,” which he attended, as one of his favorite childhood memories – but he wasn’t offered a scholarship by the Buckeyes out of Dublin Coffman High School. His biggest offer came from Kentucky, so he went to the Wildcats with visions of potentially becoming a starting quarterback in the SEC.
Click to expand...
https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio...-over-likely-surer-chances-to-start-elsewhere

Just sayin': I'd like to see both C.J. Stroud and Jack Miller eventually win a Heisman at Ohio State; however, with that being said, it would be nice to see Gunner Hoak have a great year as the backup (i.e. QB2) this season. Hoak is at Ohio State because that is where he wants to be. Actually he has wanted to be here all his life, it's just that Ohio State didn't offer a scholarship out of high school..
 
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“You have to go in and do your job,” Hoak told Lettermen Row after the Big Ten title game in December. “You go in and you help the team do whatever you can. You go in every day and have a great attitude, help the guys in front of you and everyone around you. That’s the main goal for us, help us win.

“It’s been amazing, and it’s incredible to come in here and be welcomed by these great players, great coaches and just everyone around here. Just this tradition they have around here. It’s been an unbelievable experience thus far. Family means everything. It means the world to come here and be a part of something great. It’s a dream come true.”
 
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GUNNAR HOAK
Ohio State fans know firsthand how important it is to have a reliable backup quarterback.

It's not just the often-recalled 2014 season in which backup quarterback J.T. Barrett was called upon after Braxton Miller went down eight days before the first game of the year. Barrett then rewrote just about every freshman passing record in 12 games before going down against Michigan and turning things over to Cardale Jones, who went on to win a national title.

But there were others, of course. Kenny Guiton saved Ohio State's undefeated season in 2012 with his heroics against Purdue, and did the same early the following year when Miller went down against San Diego State in Week 2.

Then in 2017, Barrett went down against Michigan and Dwayne Haskins came into the game trailing by seven. He helped the Buckeyes rally to a 31-21 victory.

Justin Fields returns to Ohio State this fall and is a huge reason why Ohio State's on the short list of national title contenders. If Fields gets knocked out during any stretch, they'll need Gunnar Hoak to step up like Guiton and a host of others did in recent years.
 
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