COLUMBUS, Ohio — Pick a sample size, change the pool of voters, it hardly makes a difference to an approval rating that might as well be a unanimous endorsement. Limit it to teammates, and the votes poured in to make Kenny Guiton a captain at Ohio State.
+ EnlargeAP Photo/Jay LaPreteKenny Guiton is loved by the fans and respected by his teammates. Not bad for a backup QB.Expand it to one of the largest stadiums in college football, and the fans that pack the Horseshoe have made their feelings well known by chanting the senior’s name. Even across the country, a brief stint in the spotlight in September earned him recognition as the national player of the week and turned him into a household name.
That near universal admiration is rare enough for anybody, let alone a backup quarterback.
But Ohio State’s has become a cult hero. And as he takes in the appreciation for what he’s accomplished for the last time on Saturday at Ohio Stadium, he will do so knowing just how easily he could have missed out on it entirely.
The accidental Buckeye
Tom Herman wasn’t the only recruiter who had taken an interest in the quarterback from Houston, but he was in the same boat as the rest of the small handful of coaches seeking Guiton’s services back in 2008.
Then an assistant at Rice, Herman saw the multipurpose potential Guiton brought to the position. There was an accurate, but not overpowering, arm capable of leading a passing attack. Mobility, but perhaps not game-changing acceleration, which could extend plays and pose a threat as a rusher.
But Guiton wasn’t the kind of recruit worth waiting around forever for, and ultimately Rice had to move on and take another quarterback.
“Kenny had kind of put off his decision, kept waiting and waiting,” Herman said. “At that time we felt like we had to fish or cut bait.
“I think that’s why it didn’t work out for a lot of different places that he originally had offers to.”
At the top of Guiton’s list was Kansas.
When he called the Jayhawks, they had already filled their need for a passer.
Guiton placed a call to his next choice in the Big 12.
“I called Iowa State, and they were like, ‘We just had a commit two or three days ago,’” Guiton said. “I just waited too long.
“After a while, there was nothing on the table.”
There was still Prairie View A&M, and after dragging his feet, that option was looking pretty appealing.
Then Ohio State swooped in unexpectedly after it was spurned by its top targets and scrambling to fill the late void in its 2009 recruiting class, offering a nice landing spot in the Big Ten. But what it didn’t necessarily provide was a place where much was expected of him. Even Rice thought it might have a bit of a project on its hands with Guiton, and the Buckeyes were in reasonably good shape at the position in the first place.
“I’d be lying to you if I told you we thought at Rice this was possible,” said Herman, now the quarterbacks coach at Ohio State. …
Continue reading this article at ESPN: Guiton’s OSU career nearly didn’t happen
