Receiver grabs passes, not the spotlight
Sanzenbacher overlooked but tough, reliable
Friday, September 4, 2009
By Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Dane Sanzenbacher
Discussions about Ohio State's receivers seem to start with whether DeVier Posey will develop into a true No. 1 and continue onto the considerable potential of Taurian Washington, Lamaar Thomas and Duron Carter.
Even Ray Small gets talked about, though not always for the right reasons.
Who's missing here? Dane Sanzenbacher, even though he has more letters in his last name (12) than Posey has career catches (11).
"I'm OK with that," Sanzenbacher said of being overlooked. "It's kind of been like that most of my career, and there's not much you can do about it. What people think on the outside isn't as important as what we're doing on the inside here."
On the outside, it's easy to see what Sanzenbacher is not: He's not the biggest, at 5 feet 11 and 175 pounds. He's not the fastest.
But he's tough, determined and dependable. He's got gravel in his guts.
Sanzenbacher appears to be following in the footsteps of other so-called three-star recruits such as A.J. Hawk, Malcolm Jenkins and James Laurinaitis.
Despite a dazzling performance while leading Toledo Central Catholic to the 2005 Division II state title, Sanzenbacher was getting little love from colleges. Until he wowed Ohio State coaches at their 2006 summer camp, he had scholarship offers only from Mid-American Conference schools.
"I think a lot of times, the combine tests and everything like that kind of turns into what players get defined as," Sanzenbacher said. "And I think it's a lot more than that. I think there's a whole other element to it that you only see when you're actually out on the field playing."
