COLUMBUS, Ohio — With a mother who’s a local newscaster, and having taken part in his fair share of interview sessions over the past year, Darron Lee has a knack for saying the right thing.
So when the Ohio State linebacker was asked about his snub from this year’s preseason watch list for the Butkus Award, it wasn’t necessarily surprising that he was able to shed the question like an oncoming blocker.
“I don’t care about watch lists,” Lee said. “I feel that it would motivate anybody if they were really paying attention to that. I just focus on helping my team win ballgames.”
But as polished as the redshirt sophomore linebacker is in front of a camera, he can only hold his true feelings in for so long. Which is why it also wasn’t a surprise that when pressed on the subject of being overlooked, the former 3-star prospect inside the now-Sugar Bowl MVP emerged.
“That chip (on my shoulder) will never leave,” he said. “As long as I wear this jersey, or any other jersey playing football, I’m always going to give my best.”
And yet for Lee, who is projected by several NFL draft analysts to be a first-round pick in next year’s NFL draft, the role of underdog somehow still suits him.
Maybe because he’s played it for so long.
Having grown up a mere 20 minutes from Ohio State’s campus in New Albany, Ohio, Lee had dreams of being the next Ted Ginn Jr., the Buckeyes star receiver/returner in the mid-2000s. In high school, the quarterback and sometime safety got to…
Continue Reading: Darron Lee Is College Football’s Most Overlooked Star
