REX KERN REFLECTS ON THE 1968 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON AS IT NEARS ITS 50TH ANNIVERSARY
Imagine a time before the Internet. Before recruiting rankings or 'star' designations. Now try to imagine finding the right prospects for your team in a time like that.
That is exactly what the recruiting world was like in the 1960s, when Woody Hayes consistently fielded one of the best teams in the country at Ohio State. He did it by primarily keeping the best players in the state of Ohio home and bringing them to Columbus, where he built the Buckeye program into the juggernaut it has become.
With all the teams that Hayes put together, and all the teams that have come since in Columbus, there might not be a better recruiting class than the 1967 group that walked into Ohio Stadium.
That group, while featuring a number of Ohio natives, also saw the Buckeyes go regional, bringing in the likes of Jack Tatum from New Jersey, John Brockington from Brooklyn, N.Y. and Jan White from Pennsylvania.
Ohio State's 1967 freshman football team. Credit: Ohio State University Archives.
One of the pillars of that 1967 recruiting class, of course, was quarterback Rex Kern, who told
Eleven Warriors that the minute he committed to Ohio State, Hayes had him recruiting other players that would end up in his class.
"I announced that I was going to Ohio State to play basketball and football and when we made the announcement, Woody gave me a list of guys to start calling," Kern said. "One of the guys was a friend and great teammate Larry Zelina from St. Benedictine (Cleveland, Ohio). Woody said, 'If we get this kid, we're probably going to have the greatest recruiting class we've ever had.' We (already) had guys coming in like Jack Tatum, Bruce Jankowski, Jan White, John Brockington and Tim Anderson. We had a great football recruiting class."
Once the 1967 football season started, it was clear that Hayes knew exactly what he was talking about.
The varsity season didn't start out like many had hoped in Columbus, as the Buckeyes limped to a 2-3 start to the season, including a 41-6 loss to No. 2 Purdue at home. Unfortunately, the 1967 class could only make their contributions to the varsity team in practice.
Freshmen weren't allowed to play varsity football until 1972, so the rookie Buckeyes were relegated to playing a separate schedule and serving as the scout team for the varsity in practice. During that 1967 season, the foreshadowing of what Kern's class would end up being began to take place.
In preparation for the rematch against Purdue in 1968 (which OSU would go onto win 13-0), Ohio State's scout team began running the Boilermaker offense against the varsity defense during a portion of practice in 1967, following the embarrassing loss. It was then that Kern said you began to truly see what the 1967 recruiting class was capable of.
"We are running Purdue's offense at the goal line. (Defensive coordinator) Lou McCullough told (freshman head coach) Glenn "Tiger" Ellison, 'Tiger, we're going to put the ball on the 1-yard line and give you four downs and see if your baby Bucks can score.' Well, we lined up in (Purdue's) formation and I turned around and gave the ball to John Brockington and he scored on the first play," Kern said. "McCullough is yelling at Tiger telling him we aren't blocking it right. Tiger told Lou, 'You can't stop the baby Bucks.'
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