College football: Former Flyer finds new home at Ohio State

The reigning special teams player of the week for the Buckeyes took a more circuitous route that included a stop at the University of Dayton.

“So I first started at UD,” the Ohio State receiver recalled this week. “I redshirted there my freshman year. In the spring I kinda wasn’t feeling it. Football has always been the love my life. I played the game since I was 7 or 8. That’s about 15 or 16 years now, and at the end of my freshman year, I was really kind of feeling like it wasn’t it for me and I should just move on with the rest of my life and find other opportunities elsewhere.”

At the urging of his grandmother, Booker decided to continue his academic career at Ohio State, where he had a cousin who was already a student.

Booker had no intention of playing football for the Buckeyes, but joining his cousin on a flag football team rekindled his interest in the game and eventually led to Booker joining the Ohio State club football team in 2018 at his friends' urging.

That was a fateful decision.

“I came to my first practice and fell in love with the game again,” Booker said.

From there he credited OSU club cootball coach James Grega for bridging the gap between his team and the varsity squad.

Grega, a former college football reporter familiar with the recruiting process, made a highlight tape for Booker and shared it with the football staff. That eventually led to a meeting with OSU receivers coach Brian Hartline and assistant Keenan Bailey.

Booker joined the varsity team in July 2019 as a walk-on and a little more than a year later is enjoying a breakthrough as a special teams contributor.

OSU head coach Ryan Day called Booker’s story unbelievable and credited Hartline and strength and conditioning director Mickey Marotti with developing him into an asset for special teams coordinator Matt Barnes.

“It just goes to show you when somebody wants something enough and they have a big enough heart, anything’s possible,” Day said. “What an inspirational story, and that was really, really cool to see.”

University of Dayton football coach Rick Chamberlin has fond memories and no ill will for Booker.

“I remember Chris, a young man out of Missouri who came in as a wide receiver,” Chamberlin told the Dayton Daily News. "Very athletic. Very fast. We redshirted him that first fall and he actually won our offensive scout team player of the year, so we were very excited about him.

"He came back after Christmas and we talked a few times, and he just didn’t know if Dayton was the place for him or if football was the thing for him. He just wasn’t very motivated to play. And I said, ‘Hey, we know it’s a transition and things, so let’s work through the winter and get to spring ball.’ Before spring ball even hit he just said, ‘Coach, I’m not gonna play. I don’t feel like my heart’s in it, and I just don’t want to do it anymore.’

“I told him I hate to hear that because he fit in well at Dayton, and he was talented, but he said he was going to go back home.”

Chamberlin didn’t realize Booker had ended up at Ohio State, but he said he was happy to find out.

“I’m glad to hear that about Chris — glad he’s enjoying it and getting playing time. That’s great,” Chamberlin said. “On the game Saturday night I’ll have to look out for him.”

When he left Dayton, Booker might not have expected to rekindle his love affair with football just another hour east on I-70, but he is grateful for how things worked out.

“At this level, you really can’t help but be grateful for everything that comes to you, because the competition here, it’s the first thing you think about when you come to a place like Ohio State,” Booker said. "You know you’re gonna have to work hard if you want to see the field at all. And just what I’ve been able to accomplish is nothing short (of a miracle). It’s amazing. And the opportunities that they have given me is amazing as well. I’m just grateful, and I can’t say that enough.

“It means so much to me just to be able to get the opportunity to play football again. There was kind of a big hole in my life because I had been doing it so long and fell in love with it. I played other sports but football was my greatest love, and I missed it. Once I got up to the varsity level, I really started falling in love with the game again.”

Booker is not the only walk-on making an impact for the Buckeyes this fall.

Ben Schmiesing, a junior linebacker from Piqua, was among a handful Day called out by name Tuesday along with running back Mitch Rossi, linebacker Cade Kacherski, running back Xavier Johnson, defensive lineman Zaid Hamdan and receiver Sam Wiglusz,

“There’s a long list of guys who are walk-ons that are contributing, and that that really helps a program, especially in a year like this,” Day said. “I think we’re going to see a lot more of those guys get time as the season goes on.”

An OSU scholar-athlete majoring in business, Schmiesing was Academic All-Big Ten last season.

The 2017 GWOC Defensive Player of the Year, who played both ways for the Indians, received interest from UD, Harvard, Penn, Lehigh, Davidson, and Ohio Dominican before accepting an invitation to join the Buckeyes as a preferred walk-on.

Although current linebackers coach Al Washington was not part of the staff then, he has taken a liking to the 6-1, 225-pounder.

“If I could make some carbon copies of Ben Schmiesing, I would do it,” Washington told the Dayton Daily News prior to the Fiesta Bowl in December. “He’s accountable. He’s tough. He’s really developed. When you’re talking about skillset from spring to now, I can have him come in here and we could do a clinic on how to do things properly.”

Washington suggested he could be a future coach.

“He’s brilliant and he’s so tough and really a fine football player,” Washington said.

SATURDAY’S GAME

Ohio State at Penn State, 7:30 p.m., ABC, 1410