Tom Archdeacon: Walk-on steals the show in Ohio State rout

One moment he was an undersized walk-on receiver on the sidelines playing behind a bunch of “real ballers” as he called them and the next thing he knew he was in the end zone at Ohio Stadium, cradling the football as the crowd of 106,187 cheered his touchdown catch.

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With 1:32 left in the first half, the Ohio State junior had just caught a 28-yard TD pass over the middle and in traffic from Buckeyes quarterback Dwayne Haskins. The score and ensuing point after put the Bucks up 44-7 on UNLV.

“It was an unreal feeling,” he admitted. “I looked down to make sure I was in that red (end zone) and then I heard the screams from my teammates and the fans and I knew: It was a touchdown. I just remember the roar was incredible.”

The Buckeyes on the field all mobbed him and then, when he got to the sideline, he was engulfed in a prolonged love-fest as almost every player and and coach pushed in to embrace him.

“When I came off the field I couldn’t breathe,” he grinned. “All the guys were around me giving me high-fives and hugs. Here they don’t care if you’re a walk-on or not.

“No matter what your size, your weight, your skin color, it don’t matter. Football is a game for everybody.

“Here it’s a brotherhood and I’m thankful to be a part of it”.

And he was a big part of it Saturday, leading the Buckeyes with six receptions for 102 yards and a score in what ended up a 54-21 rout.

Saunders’ teammates celebrated his first day in the spotlight as a Buckeye because he is the most unlikely of heroes.

On a team of heavily-recruited scholarship athletes from all across the nation, he’s from nearby Dublin Coffman High School and has paid his own way to OSU for three seasons now.

At 5-foot-10 and 176 pounds, he’s small and not especially strong and yet he’s done whatever the coaches have asked him to do.

Although he had been a good receiver in high school, they added him to the practice squad three seasons ago as a cornerback because he said they “needed bodies” at that spot.

This spring they moved him to receiver and he was excited just to make the travel squad for the season opener at Indiana.

Saturday he got a chance and made the most of it.

Afterward coach Urban Meyer talked about him and what he needs to do if he wants many more days in the sun:

“He’s actually a good player. He’s got the shake. He’s got the hands. He’s got the courage. He’s got the go-to, the will-to.

“But he’s got to be stronger. He’s a really good player, he’s just not very big.

“You can’t be a hood ornament. You’ve got to be able to block and do other things. We’ve had trouble before with the smaller guys. They can’t play.”

And coming out of high school Saunders didn’t think he was going to play football anymore.

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He certainly has some athletic genes. His mom, Jane, was a three-time All-American swimmer at the University of Tennessee and Indiana University and his dad, Tim, is the baseball coach at Coffman.

C.J. starred in basketball, baseball and football, where he caught 39 passes for 522 yards and six TDs as a high school senior.

“Because I played different sports, I didn’t go to (football) camps and get rankings,” he said. “I had a couple D-III schools interested but I had no D-I offers. I just kinda thought I was done with it.

“But then I was talking to my parents and my high school coach and I said ‘I miss it.’

“And they were able to hook me up with Coach (Luke) Fickell. He sent me a text and said, ‘We’d like you to come out and be part of the team.”

Saunders admitted he “wasn’t very good” at cornerback and was excited when he was switched to receiver: “At least it was a position I knew.”

But the issue was his weight and strength.

He said he listens to the strength coach and the team’s nutritionist:

“I come in extra days and do extra lifting and they have me drinking some weight stuff at night, like milkshakes. In the mornings there is a Breakfast Club. You wake up early and go get a meal so there’s something in your system.”

“I’ve got to eat a lot of food,” he grinned. “He wants me to eat 4,000-plus calories a day. I just got to get everything I can into my system to get bigger. I’ve got to be able to contribute.”

Saturday he did just that, and he did it front of a large group of family members who had come to see him in a Buckeyes uniform.

“It will be great to go out and see them,” he said as he prepared to leave the Buckeyes’ postgame quarters. “And I know I’ve got a lot of text messages on my phone to get to.”

After that, he figured he’d go get something to eat.