Ohio State football notebook: Bryant suffers broken ankle, will miss rest of senior season
Ohio State's Big Ten-opening win over Wisconsin was 26 seconds from the finish last night when OSU safety Christian Bryant saw his season - and probably his college career - come to an end.
The senior co-captain suffered a broken left ankle while helping make a tackle on a third-down pass by Wisconsin that came up 4 yards short of the first down at the Badgers 16-yard line. He eventually was helped from the field, and within 25 minutes after the game was being transported to the Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State for surgery, OSU coach Urban Meyer said.
"Our leader is in an ambulance going to the hospital to have surgery on his leg," a somber Meyer said near the end of his postgame press conference.
Bryant is the second Buckeye to suffer a season-ending broken ankle in two games. Freshman James Clark incurred the injury on the first play of the second half against Florida A&M.
King and his court
LeBron James, the reigning MVP of the NBA champion Miami Heat, visited with the Ohio State team at the hotel before the game and made the trek with the players to the skull session at St. John Arena.
The Akron native, an Ohio State fan who was in attendance in 2009 when the Buckeyes lost a night game to Southern California at Ohio Stadium, then found a seat in the expansive press box suite of athletic director Gene Smith.
Expected to join him were former Ohio State linebackers James Laurinaitis of the St. Louis Rams and A.J. Hawk of the Green Bay Packers.
Nothing like lit-up 'Shoe
For the players, no other atmosphere compares to playing a night game at Ohio Stadium.
"Words can't even explain what playing in the 'Shoe at night is all about," middle linebacker Curtis Grant said. "The fans are crazy, that's the main thing. And they give us a lot of energy. We call it 'the juice,' and that feeds through everybody. And at the end of the day, it helps us play."
One reason, cornerback Bradley Roby said, is because it's obvious the day began much earlier for many of the fans.
"I love night games; it's electrifying," Roby said. "It's not a noon game. Everybody is there, people have all day to get drunk and stuff like that. So it's going to be crazy."
Friends regardless
Nine years ago current Ohio State coach Urban Meyer gained respect for Wisconsin coach Gary Andersen, something that Meyer said was changed by them being rivals for the first time on opposite sidelines last night.
"Gary is a good friend, and we will remain good friends - the players play the game, and this is about them," Meyer said. "I just like guys like this in the profession.
"He does it the right way. He's a first-class family man that looks out for the best interests of the student-athletes. So he's good for the game."
Andersen was hired by Meyer during his second year at Utah in 2004 with orders to shore up the defensive line play.
Cooper steps into OSU hall
John Cooper, the second-winningest coach in Ohio State history, was inducted into the Ohio State athletic hall of fame on Friday night.
He, basketball honoree Scoonie Penn and the rest of the inductees were introduced during the game last night. Cooper, already in the college football hall of fame, said his thoughts would be on the players and assistant coaches who helped him get there.
"I mean this from the bottom of my heart, you don't get something like this without the work and dedication of a lot of people," said Cooper, who, from 1988 to 2000, won 111 games, second only to Woody Hayes (205 wins in 28 years). "I'm in this hall of fame because I was able to be here a long time, and finally got players and coaches, and we won a lot of games.
"If you don't win a lot of games, you aren't going to coach here a long time."
The 1993 team, credited with getting his era over the hump, had a 20-year reunion this weekend and was introduced during last night's game.
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