Joey Bosa has never shrugged at your team's expense.
He's either making plays or drawing double-teams - which puts his teammates in better position to make plays - so Bosa is generally a guy you enjoy seeing on the field. In addition to being a difference maker he brings an amiable personality and unique presence to Ohio State football.
He was also a first team All-American as a sophomore. You like him.
But if you've ever cheered for Marcus Mariota, Christian Hackenberg or Devin Gardner you probably feel differently about Bosa, and not just because he's good and plays for Ohio State.
You might believe that he is a dirty player for having driven Mariota's throwing shoulder into the ground late in the national title game. Or because Hackenberg and Gardner (right) have both had their helmets separated from their heads by him during live game action.
Their fans already loathed him; those episodes simply added some spice to it. Bosa played for the wrong team long before he started popping hats off their quarterbacks. His aggressive play also happens to predate his collegiate career.
As a high school senior Bosa was once ejected and suspended for a playoff game for a particularly flagrant personal foul, then returned for the title game where he committed two more. A scouting report on MGoBlog around the same time described him as
...a young Taylor Lewan...a bit of a nasty streak that may or may not get him some penalties at some point.
Taylor Lewan. Gross. You still hate that guy - and not just because he attended college in Ann Arbor. He always brought a unique presence and personality to Michigan football.
Lewan’s forehead bled so early and often in games it seemed like he cut himself on purpose. He was a notoriously dirty player who trash-talked too much for your liking, allegedly threatened a sexual assault victim and definitely punched an Ohio State fan. When he was drafted 11th overall by the Tennessee Titans last year, rising sophomore Bosa reminisced
Didn't I have two sacks against him?
— Joey Bosa (@jbbigbear) May 9, 2014
Remove the character issues and obvious human garbage element of Lewan's off-the-field behavior (he was already despised independent of all that) and you've got two very similar linemen. One was a first round draft pick and the other will be soon. Both are known for being excessively physical on the field. Both are very good at football.
Oh look, he's bleeding again.
Yet you hate one of them and love the other. You may even be repulsed and mildly offended they’re being compared in an article on this site.
That part about being good at football is as relevant to loving or hating a player as his jersey color; it's why both Bosa and Lewan garner stronger opinions than others. Had someone like Tom Strobel turned out to be good at football we might have a stronger opinion - or any opinion - about him at all.
In case you’ve already forgotten, Strobel is from Jim Tressel's hometown and was all set to attend Ohio State as a weak side defensive end in 2012 before Tatgate helped change his mind for him. Along with fellow Ohioan flip Kyle Kalis, their on-field meeting in high school was actually described as
the immovable object (facing) off against the unstoppable force.
I'll pause for a moment so you fully digest that.
Upon committing to Michigan Strobel was crowned as the prototypical Michigan Man; Ohio roots and all. He explained
"Like most people in Ohio, I was raised with a biased opinion against Michigan; however, it occurred to me that there was no justification for my prejudice, besides the fact that it was Michigan. I think it says something that despite my apprehension, Michigan still stood out above the rest."
Like most people in Ohio he hated Michigan, because it’s historically competent at football along with being one of the best academic institutions in the world. And it’s right next door. Michigan is disgusting for those two noble reasons; its self-congratulatory culture and often empty arrogance are just window dressing and easier to ridicule.
Strobel and Kalis for three Borens and Rock is Ohio State’s version of the Herschel Walker trade.
Brady Hoke did yeoman’s work during the endless summer of 2011 getting young, impressionable Ohioans to see Michigan as a less-disgusting alternative to the beloved in-state football program that was being annihilated daily on television, radio and Internet. Continuing:
Academics played a major role in (Strobel changing his opinion of Michigan). As you can probably tell from the Stanford and Northwestern offers listed above, Strobel is one of those guys who probably could have gotten into Michigan even if he wasn't 6'6" and partial to throwing high schoolers across the field.
Strobel, like the majority of his teammates, is enrolled in what's widely accepted to be Michigan's academic safe harbor for athletes. During his three years in Ann Arbor he has registered a grand total of three tackles; all in garbage time. The unstoppable force hasn’t been quite as disruptive as it once was.
His partner-in-absconding, the immovable object Kalis has been a far more scrutinized and chronicled disappointment, albeit under the weight of the unfair expectations given to every 5-star recruit. Sure, his defection was louder but we haven’t completely forgotten about him mostly because unlike Strobel, Kalis is consistently getting mud on his jersey.
He is a well-worn punchline with ample eligibility to make the joke less funny; a former Ohio State commit who once dominated and then publicly mocked Michigan commit Chris Rock in a high school game, relishing the opportunity to whip him again in college. We loved Kalis back then and were excited to see him follow through on his promise.
Mike Boren with sons Zach and Justin. Photo: Watson
Kalis then flipped, awkwardly making he and Rock teammates. Rock eventually left Ann Arbor and quietly finished his career at Ohio State last season. Michigan fans don’t hate Rock for exchanging the Wolverines for the Buckeyes...but they still despise Justin Boren.
Boren felt the Michigan he grew up adoring abruptly changed with the arrival of Rich Rodriguez. He traded Ann Arbor for Columbus far more conspicuously than Rock did, and after being just the fourth true freshman to ever start on OL there. He finished his career being destructive on Ohio State’s behalf, and the Buckeyes got two more potent Borens out of the whole ordeal.
You love the Borens: three Michigan legacies who grew up in Columbus adoring Bo Schembechler. Imagine if they had all landed in Ann Arbor, where they would have been three additional trees in the endless orchard of Ohioans who have made Michigan football hateable.
They'd be the same family. Only the jersey and your opinion of them would change.
But as a Buckeye fan evaluating this mythical player exchange, Strobel and Kalis for three Borens and Rock is Ohio State’s version of the Herschel Walker trade. It’s healthier to love than it is to hate, so consider thinking of Kalis in that context instead of as a Tatgate casualty.
Love and acrimony fuel this obsession of ours, even in the barren month of May with no football in sight.
Heroes and villains make for good television, but love and hate still comes down to the color of the jersey and the quality of the player. Unfortunately when the player is bad but wears the right jersey, the vitriol tends to be from the fans cheering for his team. Most recently, see: Williams, Amir.
There are very few exceptions; all things equal it’s hard to imagine Jameis Winston being embraced as much as he was at Florida State on a different campus that wasn’t so widely equipped with campus enablers, a low information fanbase or a fictional police department.
Most stars are like Aaron Craft - they'd be loved anywhere else. So would Bosa. So would Ezekiel Elliott, who is probably annoying to most if not all of Ohio State’s opponents. So would his predecessor in Ohio State's backfield, Carlos Hyde.
Imagine if Craft, Bosa or Elliott if they were inflicting their wrath against Ohio State instead of on its behalf. You'd despise them, but they're not hateable. They're just good.
Elliott entered last season hoping to cover for some of Hyde's lost production. He routinely asked Urban Meyer to feed him the ball more following big running plays and does the motion out of respect to Hyde, spooning invisible handoffs into his face on the way back to the huddle.
FEED ZEKE has been the triumphant sequel to FEED HYDE. It’s on the verge of being Godfather 2 in terms of sequel quality, and among the memorable scenes are his pleas for more spoonfuls - which only arrive after significant gains. When Zeke begs for more carries on camera he does so after he’s already eaten a lot of yards.
Like a Bosa Shrug, this celebration isn’t something anyone rooting against Ohio State ever wants to see. They appreciate it when Hyde did it and they absolutely hate it when Zeke does it while leading the Buckeyes to what will hopefully be national championships.
But it wasn’t all that long ago that seeing FEED ME during Buckeye games annoyed you.
That's because Denard Robinson was gobbling up yards and begging for seconds seasons prior to Hyde doing it.
Yes, the only starting Michigan QB to beat Ohio State since Zeke was 8 years old was a difference maker who played football with so much conspicuous joy you hated that it happened in a Michigan uniform.
You mocked his arm and disrespected his pocket ability, because that was easier to ridicule than his game-changing ability. But it was less about the guy inside the helmet than it was the helmet itself. He just happened to be good at football. That's why you cared.
Love and acrimony are what fuel this obsession of ours, even in the barren month of May with no football in sight. It's why Denard's joy is still annoying years after his departure. It's why you can't wait to see Zeke begging to be fed again soon. It's why you hope Kalis fails to alter the punchline with the time he has left.
And it's why you're relieved Bosa will never shrug at Ohio State’s expense.
