Ross, Hall have put football in past; Joe not ready to give up
Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
The carrot of an NFL career dangled in front of Lydell Ross, but he didn’t bite.
The former Ohio State running back had been cut once already, by the San Diego Chargers last August. Ross returned to Columbus and enrolled at OSU for winter quarter, needing just one more quarter to earn his communications degree.
He prepared to move on with his life. Then the Chargers called back.
"They said if I went to NFL Europe, then I could come back to camp with them this fall," Ross said. His agent told him it might be his last chance at a pro career, that the phone might not ring again. Ross said he thought about it for a day.
"I was so close to getting my degree, I decided that’s what was really important to me," said Ross, who turned down the offer. "I was looking out for my future and what’s ahead for me. If I don’t get this degree now, who knows? It was too easy of a decision."
Ross got his degree, graduating in March. But the decision he dismissed as "too easy" can be agonizing for many college football players.
At a powerhouse program such as OSU, one thing that attracts high-school stars is the number of players the Buckeyes send to the NFL. In the past five years, 39 OSU players have been drafted. But that still leaves many behind. Conservatively estimating 15 in a graduating class, that means about 35 players over those five years have finished their OSU careers and gone undrafted.
Some sign free-agent contracts with NFL clubs, as five players did this spring: Ryan Hamby (Cincinnati), Mike Kudla (Pittsburgh), Josh Huston (Chicago), Tyler Everett (Denver) and Marcus Green (New York Giants).
At best, one or two undrafted players per team make the final roster.
A look back to a year ago provides an interesting snapshot. The Buckeyes bade farewell to three running backs from the 2004 team — Ross, Maurice Hall and Branden Joe.
All three were undrafted, all three signed NFL free-agent contracts and all three were cut. Ross and Hall have moved on, and Joe signed with Pittsburgh and is giving the NFL a second shot.
It can be a very difficult time in an athlete’s life, trying to figure out when to hold on and when to let go.
"The biggest issue is identity for a lot of athletes, especially at Ohio State, because you receive a lot of fame and notoriety for being a football player," said Sam Maniar, one of several sports psychologists on staff at OSU.
"Then suddenly, that’s taken away from you. The sport is all you’ve known.
So you’re in a crisis: ‘How do I define who I am? What do I do outside of football?’ "
Hall struggled with that at first. The Brookhaven High School product signed with San Diego but was released after minicamp last spring. He already had a communications degree and had considered his life after football. Still, it was a tough time.
"It was definitely confusing because you’re playing football for so long, it becomes a habit," Hall said. "When you realize that football is no more, it’s kind of depressing. And being from Columbus, everybody wants to talk about what happened and why aren’t you playing, and that makes it a little harder.
"But I always had the mindset to make sure I had a Plan B. You can’t just sit around and feel sorry for yourself." Hall got a call from OSU athletics director Gene Smith, offering him a paid internship in the department. Hall now is pursuing a master’s degree and learning the ins and outs of an athletics program.
"If I can’t play football, this is the next best thing," Hall said.
Ross is working for Worthington Industries but said he plans to move back to his hometown of Tampa, Fla., this summer. He has talked with friends there about opportunities in the mortgage-broker business or real estate.
Joe was compelled to try again because he believed he didn’t get a legitimate chance to showcase his skills with the Seattle Seahawks last fall. He suffered a knee injury early in camp.
"I kind of fell off the radar" after that, he said, "but now I’m healthy and in form."
There is a line every college football player comes to, a border between his playing days and his paying-the-bills days. Some choose to cross it quickly; others linger.
In Kansas City, former OSU quarterback Steve Bellisari still isn’t ready to cross that line. Nearing his fifth year out of school, the 26-year-old is a practice-squad player for the Brigade of the Arena Football League.
"I’ve been playing football since I was 8," Bellisari told The Kansas City Star.
"You try not to define yourself as a football player, but you do it enough and that’s what you are."
Ross doesn’t feel the same way. That’s what made his decision to spurn the Chargers an easy one.
"I have no regrets, none at all," he said. "I’m 22 years old and I’ve got my whole life ahead of me. I’m just getting started."
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