Posted on Tue Jul 22, 2008 at 09:43:07 AM EST in College
More on: Buckeyes, college football, shower, Marcus Freeman, Malcolm Jenkins (all tags)

In football, all of a team's players have to be on the exact same page at the exact same time for things to execute perfectly. Sometimes this unity is required on the gridiron, but other times it's about coming together off of the field...in the shower, for example. At least, that's where the Ohio State boys did their heavy thinking.

ESPN: I hate to make you describe a shower scene, but take me back to after the LSU loss when you and the other juniors talked about coming back for this season.

MF [Marcus Freeman]: Just a lot of emotion. Sitting on that bench and thinking, 'Hey, I don't think I'm going to come back and have this feeling again.' But we got in the shower, everybody's disappointed. I forget who was the first person to say something, but it was weird that all of us that had major decisions about coming back were all in the shower at the same time. (Alex) Boone or Malcolm Jenkins or someone said, 'Hey, I'm coming back. I'm not leaving college football like this.' And then James Laurinaitis said, 'I'm coming back, too,' and I said, 'I'm coming back, too.' We all knew we really had to go home and think about it, but that was the first feeling of, 'Hey, let's come back and do it one more time. Let's go out with a bang our senior year.'

Sure, making a life-altering decision like coming back for your senior season in the shower seems kinda silly, but it's no crazier than passing up the opportunity to turn pro while sitting in barren kitchen.

Question: You guys passed up a lot of money to stay. You're living on scholarship checks.

[Malcolm] Jenkins (smiling): Every time you look in your refrigerator and you've only got peanut butter and jelly, you know, it makes you (think) like, "Dang, I wish I would've taken that 15 million dollars."

Links:
[FanHouse]: Ohio State Players Decided to Return to College While Showering Together
[BuckeyeXtra]: For love of game: Ohio State juniors decide as one

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