There are 49 days that separate us from Ohio State's march to Blacksburg. To help pass the time until the Buckeyes put the Sandman to sleep I will countdown Ohio State's top 100 players according to the rubric* listed at the bottom of this article.

Cornelius Green was a trailblazer at Ohio State.

NO. 49 CORNELIUS GREEN, QB (1973-1975)
Born: 1954
High School: Dunbar (Washington D.C.)

OHIO STATE CAREER

• The Buckeyes were 31-3-1 with Green on the team.
• 1973 Big Ten Title.
• 1974 Big Ten Title.
• 1975 Big Ten Title.
• 1974 Defeated No. 7 USC 42-21 to win the Rose Bowl.
• 1973 tied No. 3 That Team 10-10.
• 1974 Defeated No. 4 That Team 12-10.
• 1975 Defeated No. 4 That Team 21-14.

HONORS

• 1975 Big Ten MVP.
• 1975 Team MVP.
• 1975 All-Big Ten.
• 1974 All-Big Ten.
• 1998 Inducted into The Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame.

NFL DRAFT
Round 11 to the Dallas Cowboys with the 218th pick of the 1976 draft.
 

Is his name Cornelius Greene or Cornelius Green?
From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in 1976:

It’s official that the Seahawks’ other new receiver, Cornelius Green now spells his last name without a finale.

He explalined, “I have researched and found that some of my relatives  spelled it ‘Greene’ and others ‘Green’ and the latter is correct.” He is Cornelius Green.

Green was a winner.

Cornelius Green's Ohio State career per ohiostatebuckeyes.com:

Cornelius Greene was the Big Ten MVP in 1975. During his three years as starting quarterback, he led the team to a 31-3-1 record. He was a member of four Big Ten Championship teams. In 1973, Greene led Ohio State to an undefeated season and a second place finish in the polls. He was MVP of the 1974 Rose Bowl. Greene was a two-time all-Big Ten pick and led the conference in total offense as a senior.

Cornellius Green is a winner. Excerpts from an article from The Independent after Ohio State's Rose Bowl victory over USC  in 1974:

Don't tell Cornelius Greene anything about adversity. He's faced it all his life. 

[...]

Greene is a modest  young man of 19, who has been looking up all his life.

His father is blind.  He has four sisters and three brothers helping his mother in a Washington, D.C., ghetto.

"I guess my mother's prayers were answered today," he smiled, thinking of the victory which avenged last year's 42-17 loss to most of these same Trojans.

Cornelius Green is a member of Ohio State's Athletic Hall of Fame.

Where is Cornelius now? Per Ken Gordon of The Dispatch:

After Seattle released him, Cornelius briefly went to the Canadian Football league and then semi-pro ball in Columbus, Ohio before moving back to his hometown of Washington, DC in 1982. He lives there now, working for the city and managing a recreation center. He has two kids, one of which is playing basketball at the University of Vermont (Jason).

In 1998, he was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame. He was the school's first black quarterback.

For more information on other players who wore No. 7 go here.

Sources-  The Ohio State Team Guide and beckys-place.com

ALL PLAYERS COVERED TO DATE