Howard Cassady, Vic Janowicz and Les Horvath couldn’t do it. Neither could Keith Byars, Eddie George or even Archie Griffin.
Maurice Clarett was the first.
Clarett, heir apparent in a long tradition of Ohio State tailbacks, was the first true freshman to start a Buckeyes season opener. He got the call against Texas Tech on Aug. 24. But he’s done much more than just start — he’s finished, too — scoring 10 touchdowns in his first four games in scarlet and gray, the most by a freshman anywhere in more than 60 years.
That a true freshman could come into a program like Ohio State and have such phenomenal success has surprised the entire country, save for Clarett himself.
“Maurice Clarett has great belief in himself and his ability to succeed,” head coach Jim Tressel said. “He deserved to play as a true freshman.”
Clarett has even heard Heisman talk. He has amassed 567 yards on 6.7 yards per carry for the No. 5 Buckeyes. Quite fittingly, the trophy will be on display Saturday outside Ryan Field when Clarett makes his first visit to Northwestern.
“You try to put it out of your head,” Clarett said about college football’s ultimate individual honor. “It wasn’t one of my goals to compete for it at the beginning of the season, but it’s nice because not everyone in the country is mentioned for it.”
The 6-foot, 230-pound bruiser from Youngstown, Ohio, arrived on the scene in the opener against the Red Raiders. Although he woke up at 2:30 a.m. the day of the game because he was so nervous, Clarett rushed for 175 yards and three touchdowns (two that were more than 40 yards) and left Ohio Stadium to chants of “Mau-rice! Mau-rice!” He was also the Buckeyes’ leading receiver, catching four passes for 30 yards in the 45-21 win.
One of 10 freshmen on Ohio State’s two-deep, Clarett followed his impressive debut by scoring on the ground and through the air in a rout of Kent State. But for many, his real coming out party came with the entire nation’s eyes on a matchup with then-No. 10 Washington State.
Trailing 7-6 at halftime, Ohio State and Clarett took over the game in the second half, running around, through and over Cougars defenders for 230 yards on 31 carries — 191 after the half — in the Buckeyes’ 25-7 win. It was the second-best rushing total for a freshman in Ohio State history, behind only Griffin’s 237 yards against North Carolina State in 1972.
Suffering from exhaustion, leg cramps and a nasty cut on his middle finger, Clarett continued to inflict pain on unsuspecting tacklers up until the final drive, when he carried five consecutive times.
Clarett underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee the Tuesday after the game (Sept. 17) but missed only a 23-19 win over Cincinnati. Clarett said he’s back at full speed and the only remnants of the surgery are stitches that will take 21 days to heal completely.
Big Ten coaches have been effusive in their praise for the freshman phenom.
“He’s as advertised, he’s certainly not overrated,” said Indiana coach Gerry DiNardo, who watched Clarett rush for 104 yards in his first conference game, a 45-17 win over the Hoosiers on Saturday. “Any time a young kid can go into a program like Ohio State and start he has be a special player. He’s a downhill guy, a big, strong, physical tailback and he only gets stronger as the game goes along.”
NU head coach Randy Walker joked that Clarett had better options than playing his team this Saturday.
“Leave Ohio State right now,” he said. “This week the (Cincinnati) Bengals could really use him.”
Joking aside, Walker, an Ohio native, knows Clarett is something special.
“He’s as good a freshman as I’ve seen in a long time,” Walker said. “He has all the things you’re looking for in a back. It’s one thing to be big and another to have speed, but he has vision you don’t coach; it’s instinctual. He’s got a great future and he’ll by playing football for a long time.”
In his senior year at Warren G. Harding High School, Clarett rushed for 2,194 yards and an amazing 38 touchdowns and was named Ohio’s Mr. Football and USA Today’s national offensive player of the year.
Although he was recruited by many of the top programs in the country, Clarett’s only official visit was to Columbus due in part to his fear of flying. He has flown only once, to a high school all-star game in Texas. Clarett said he plans to take Benadryl to sleep through his flight to Chicago.
While most of the country hadn’t heard his name until the start of the season, Clarett actually arrived on Ohio State’s campus in January after graduating from high school early to participate in spring drills with the Buckeyes.
“It was a lot more stress than it was fun,” Clarett said about learning the Ohio State offense. “It’s the same kind of discipline, just on another level. I had great coaches in high school and here so it’s the same type of program.”
Tressel said Clarett excels in all facets of the game because he enjoys all aspects of football.
“He loves running, hitting, blocking,” he said, “and just being out there with his teammates all the time.”
