S Kurt Coleman (All B1G, All-American)

[cjmik_75]

Great senior season Kurt! It's a damn travesty that he wasn't a Thorpe finalist.


:osu:

 

[NateG]

Great senior season Kurt! It's a damn travesty that he wasn't a Thorpe finalist.


:osu:

+1

 

[Buckskin86]

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Buckeyes' Coleman has the proper perspective
By Steve Ramirez, Staff Writer
Posted: 12/27/2009

CARSON - Ohio State University's Kurt Coleman might be the best defensive player in the 96th Rose Bowl.

The senior is a three-year starter at safety, earned All-Big Ten honors the past two seasons and is the emotional leader for the conference champion Buckeyes, who return to Pasadena for the first time since 1997 when they face Pac-10 champion Oregon at 2 p.m. on Friday.

The afternoon will be an emotional high for Coleman, who lives for these moments on the football field. But that's also where he leaves them. The Ohio native, who after experiencing two emotional incidents during his freshman season now puts football and sports in the proper perspective.

"It was a very difficult time in my life," Coleman said while preparing at the Home Depot Center for Friday's game. "How could that not affect you. I contemplated whether I wanted to still play football.

"But lucky this team is a family, and I had a lot of faith in God, and He helped me get through it. Those are two tough things to deal with, but with my trust in God and having faith in Him and just having the family support we have, it helped me get through those situations."

The first was in 2006 spring practice when Coleman, trying to make an impression on a veteran coaching staff, was involved in a collision with walk-on Tyson Gentry during a passing drill.

Gentry fell awkwardly and suffered an injury to his vertebrae. He damaged his spinal cord and was paralyzed. Coleman
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dealt with the guilt of the incident for much of the season, then was hit with more personal stress when he learned his father, Ron Coleman, had been diagnosed with breast cancer while the team was preparing for the 2007 Bowl Championship Series title game against Louisiana State that December. Ron Coleman received treatment and has been cancer-free for three years.

Ohio State coach Jim Tressel dealt with it the same way he deals with his players on Saturdays.

"A lot of times, you just have to be there for your guys," Tressel said. "You can't tell them what they should do or tell them how they should feel. They feel how they feel.

"But you make sure you are there for them. I don't think you even do it consciously. The team does it. We've got a good bunch of guys. I think he started looking at his teammates and his opportunities and say, `Where could I best handle this?' It's usually right there with his team."

Football soon became fun again for Coleman, and it showed on the field.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Buckeyes' Coleman has the proper perspective - SGVTribune.com

 

[Buckskin86]

Buckeye safety a difference maker | All-Big Ten senior Kurt Coleman has built a philanthropic r?sum? that equals his on-field exploits
By Adam Jude
The Register-Guard
Appeared in print: Wednesday, Dec 30, 2009

LOS ANGELES ? He will leave Ohio State as the most decorated player on what could end up as the most successful class in school history. And yet there were moments three years ago when Kurt Coleman, the Buckeyes? all-Big Ten senior safety, nearly decided to leave behind a promising football career before it even started.

As a freshman, Coleman endured two life-altering events in 2006 that changed his perspective on football.

The first incident left a teammate paralyzed. The second introduced a rare form of cancer to his family.

?I?ve had a lot of maturing experiences,? Coleman said. ?It?s definitely made me a stronger person throughout the whole process.?

And through that coping process, Coleman has also tried to make others around him stronger, building a philanthropic r?sum? even more impressive than his football statistics.

?We?re blessed with so many things, and people in our position, it doesn?t take a lot of time, it doesn?t take a lot of energy ? it just takes a lot of heart,? Coleman said. ?I feel like, if more people could do it, this world would be a lot better.?

It?s an unusual perspective for a 21-year-old college student, but Coleman has been through some unusually tough times.

Sports: Home | "Buckeye safety a difference maker" | The Register-Guard | Eugene, Oregon

 

[Buckskin86]

Ohio State's Kurt Coleman is a true leader
When the safety's father received a diagnosis of breast cancer three years ago, he began a campus group to raise awareness and money for little-known diseases.
By Kevin Baxter
December 31, 2009

Ohio State
?’s Kurt Coleman intercepts a pass in the Buckeyes?’ victory over Michigan in November. (Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)

The phone call came three years ago this month. Kurt Coleman remembers it as if it happened yesterday.

It's hard to forget the night your father called to tell you he was dying.

"It was Dec. 3, 2006," said Coleman, Ohio State's All-Big Ten strong safety. "And he basically just said 'I have cancer.' I started laughing. Why are you joking?

"And he was like, 'No, I'm serious.' "

It was breast cancer, a disease so rare among males it strikes fewer than 2,000 American men a year. But it kills more than 20% of those it attacks.

In the time it took for the laughter to turn to tears, football took on a new role for Coleman, then an Ohio State freshman. If millions of people were willing to hang on his every word just because he could run fast and jump high, he figured he might as well take advantage of it.

So Coleman, now an Ohio State team captain, started a campus group to raise money and awareness for the fight against little-known diseases such as male breast cancer, kidney cancer and Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT), a debilitating neuromuscular disorder similar to muscular dystrophy.

The results have far exceeded anything the eighth-ranked Buckeyes have accomplished on the field this season.

"I can't speak higher of Kurt," said David M. Hall, chief executive of the Charcot-Marie-Tooth Assn., a national nonprofit education and awareness group. "For Kurt to, on his own, adopt the cause and reach out to us, brought us a degree and an awareness and a spotlight that, quite frankly, we didn't have before.

"Kurt created a momentum that helped us in everything we did this year."

Ohio State's Kurt Coleman is a true leader - latimes.com

Challenges strengthen Ohio State senior Kurt Coleman
By David Leon Moore, USA TODAY

By Timothy J. Gonzalez, AP
Events off the field have driven the charitable side of Ohio State defensive back Kurt Coleman.

LOS ANGELES — Kurt Coleman wraps up his college career in the Rose Bowl on Friday hoping he can wrap up Jeremiah Masoli, LaMichael James and LeGarrette Blount.

The all-Big Ten Ohio State senior strong safety knows the game might hinge on whether he makes one-on-one tackles in open space against Oregon's explosive playmakers.

"It they break a tackle, they can go all the way," Coleman says.

But the Buckeyes know that, on and off the field, Coleman has been one to meet challenges head-on.

A muscular 5-11, 188-pounder and something of a demon in the weight room, the Dayton, Ohio, native was shaken to his core in his first year at OSU during spring practices when his tackle on walk-on wide receiver Tyson Gentry left Gentry paralyzed.

Coleman, just 17 at the time, was devastated and considered quitting football until he visited Gentry in the hospital and was comforted by the player and his family.

"He told me he was going to be all right, and his family hugged me," Coleman recalls. "They said it wasn't my fault."

Coleman has been a friend to Gentry ever since.

"I saw him at Thanksgiving," Coleman says. "He's doing OK. He's starting to get a little movement. But he's got a long way to go."

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/bigten/2009-12-30-ohio-state-coleman_N.htm

 

[Poe McKnoe]

Go get 'em, Kurt!

 

[cjmik_75]

Go get 'em, Kurt!

Kurt will absolutely make his presence felt on Jan 1st. He has an opportunity to follow up an outstanding game vs tsun with another outstanding performance vs another team that will test his open field skills. He will not disappoint. As a matter of fact I see this game shooting him up the draft charts in a big way! I'm very proud he's a Buckeye, definitely one of my all time favorites. Buckeye nation is behind you all the way Kurt!!!:osu:

 

[UpNorthBuckeye]

ading about Kurt reminds me that this is, for the most part, a no-name defense. And that is a huge benefit in that the no-name squads have less pressure on them.

After tOSU's three straight BCS losses, there IS a little pressure on the team, and I think the OSU offense will still suffer a little from that, at least for the first couple of series. But the D? Like they have all year, they will all just keep doing their individual job the best they can, until the whistle blows.

And they have a great defense-specific goal to shoot for --- no 100 yard rushers.

Will Buckeye fans care if we win the Rose Bowl and all the espin A holes complain that it was our great defense that led the way?

Hell, no.

I'm going to change my prediction a little, from 31-18 to 20-6.

Stomp 'em!

 

[SCBuck13]

Kurt, you will be missed. Good luck in the League and congrats on going out a winner!

 

[Buckskin86]

Kurt invited to NFL combine...

2010 NFL Scouting Combine invitees - Sporting News staff reports - College Football - Sporting News

 

[Buckskin86]

Ohio State's Kurt Coleman, Jim Cordle eager to show varied talents to NFL scouts in postseason all-star games
By Doug Lesmerises, The Plain Dealer
January 12, 2010

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Safety Kurt Coleman and left tackle Jim Cordle were two of the senior leaders in Ohio State's Rose Bowl season, and now both are looking to prove to the NFL they can do other things.

Coleman will head to the Senior Bowl on Jan. 30 wanting to show he can play cornerback as well as safety, while Cordle is preparing to play center in the East-West Shrine Game on Jan. 23. Both understand versatility only helps their cause.

Nick Ut / AP
?I?m going down (to the Senior Bowl) to have fun and play the way I know I can play and show scouts I can play with the best,? said OSU defensive back Kurt Coleman."I'm not afraid, that's the bottom line," Coleman said

Tuesday. "I'm going down there to have fun and play the way I know I can play and show scouts I can play with the best."

Coleman said he thinks he'll make an easy transition, believing that the coverage he played in Ohio State's nickel defense was as difficult as anything he'd face as a cornerback.

"I want to prove to everyone I have the size and speed to play corner and I have the size and speed to play safety," said Coleman, a 5-11, 195-pounder who was a first-team All-Big Ten selection. "I feel I can do it all."

The Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., is the most prestigious invite for seniors, and Coleman will be joined by college stars such as Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, USC safety Taylor Mays and Alabama defensive tackle Terrence Cody.

Ohio State's Kurt Coleman, Jim Cordle eager to show varied talents to NFL scouts in postseason all-star games | Ohio State Buckeyes - cleveland.com - - cleveland.com

 

[Buckskin86]

Ohio State FS Kurt Coleman, who looked more like a small corner to me size-wise, made a nice pass defense against Pitt WR Dorin Dickerson. Coleman doesn't look terribly fast, but he prevented what would have been a great catch on the sideline by getting his hand on the ball at the last second.

ProFootballWeekly.com Monday North team practice observations

S Kurt Coleman (5-11, 195 ? Ohio State): I?m not exactly sure why, but Coleman kept catching my attention today. He didn?t make any jaw-dropping plays, but he just seems like a smart, hard-nosed player who could help a team out immediately on special teams. He?s projected as a late-round pick or college free agent by many scouting services heading into this weekend.

Kansas City Chiefs - Insider Blog: Senior Bowl – Day 1

 

[lord vegas]

Coleman out performed some of the much hyped safeties last season. If he runs a good 40 time at the combine his stock will shoot up, I just can't see him slipping to the FA status.

 

[billmac91]

Coleman out performed some of the much hyped safeties last season. If he runs a good 40 time at the combine his stock will shoot up, I just can't see him slipping to the FA status.

Not even close to being an UFA.....he'll get taken in the first four rounds. No idea where some of these projections come from. You don't find sure tacklers with good ball skills very often. Kurt has both. Maybe a tad undersized for safety, but an excellent player. The evaluations I've seen for Worthington and Coleman just leave me scratching my head....

 

[PlanetFrnd]

Not even close to being an UFA.....he'll get taken in the first four rounds. No idea where some of these projections come from. You don't find sure tacklers with good ball skills very often. Kurt has both. Maybe a tad undersized for safety, but an excellent player. The evaluations I've seen for Worthington and Coleman just leave me scratching my head....

Agreed on Coleman for sure - I've been thinking 3rd-4th round...