Ohio State Football: Did You Underestimate This Guy Too?
What a jewel for the Ohio State football program in the 2012 recruiting class.
In 2011, Luke Fickell was attempting to keep the Ohio State football program together with all of the chaos surrounding it. During that period, the interim head coach was doing a great job of keeping Ohio high school players from leaving the state to play elsewhere.
Coach Fickell had about 60 percent of the recruiting class filled before Urban Meyer came on board late in the season. But one of the players in that 2012 class just didn’t appear to be a good fit for Ohio State, and the local recruit from Pickerington, OH seemed like a reach by coach Fickell. That player was Pat Elflein, and man was I wrong.
When the 2012 recruiting class was signed sealed and delivered, the undersized guard was the lowest rated player in the class. He would never be more than a backup by the time he graduated, right?
After being redshirted his first year as many Ohio State linemen are, Elflein was a backup guard the following season and even started a game or two. Then he became a starter on Ohio State’s outstanding line in 2014 and was named first team All-Big Ten. Quite an accomplishment for a 3 star recruit, but Elflein was just getting started.
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He backed it up with another terrific season in 2015 where he was All-Big Ten once again. Now Elflein would head to the NFL, right?
Instead, he came back for his senior year and moved to center, as well as becoming a captain for the young Buckeyes who lost so many starters to the NFL. Not only did he lead Ohio State to a berth in the playoffs, but Elflein was a consensus All-American.
He also won the Rimington Award given to the best center in college football. Not too bad for a guy who was ranked as the No. 55 guard in the 2012 recruiting class and the 983rd. player overall.
Now Elflein is projected to be a second or third round pick in this years draft. There is a good chance he will have a long career as versatile offensive linemen are coveted by NFL teams, and Elflein has proven he can play all three positions on the interior. I won’t doubt he will have success in the pros, that’s for sure.
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Congratulations Pat on your outstanding career at Ohio State. You will now be honored with a tree in Buckeye Grove for as long as Ohio State football is played. Good luck in your NFL career, and I’m sorry I underestimated you.