Colleges - players.bio

'Captain Buckeye' Jack Sawyer, Ohio State's senior leader, embraces full-circle moment

ARLINGTON, Texas — A fair distance away from the stage where confetti would soon flurry, where Ohio State head coach Ryan Day would hoist the Cotton Bowl trophy and quarterback Will Howard and edge rusher Jack Sawyer would be named MVPs on their respective sides of the ball, a communications representative for the Buckeyes squeezed a football in the crook of his arm around the 9-yard line. He'd been holding it for quite some time, since at least the moment when the final buzzer sounded but perhaps a while longer, around the 2:13 mark of the fourth quarter, when Sawyer stripped it away from Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers and galloped 83 yards down the sideline for an unforgettable scoop-and-score that propelled his team to the national championship game. There was an instant between those two snapshots when Sawyer, a revered senior and team captain, entrusted the memento to Jerry Emig, the program's longtime sports information director, with very specific instructions.

Ohio State's late scoop-and-score catapults Buckeyes to national championship over Texas

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Quinn Ewers' time at Texas might be over, but there's no denying his impact

ARLINGTON, Texas – Surrounded by cameras and reporters, and escorted by a police officer, Quinn Ewers walked across the field toward the tunnel that would lead to the Texas locker room. He took in the surrounding scene: The screens at AT&T Stadium were lit up in scarlet red with the words "OHIO STATE WINS!" and "CHAMPIONS" in all caps. He acknowledged some Longhorn fans who waited for him to pass by, showing their support for the Texas quarterback with their horns up, while trying to ignore the fact that a trophy presentation was about to take place, and not for his team.