There are 42 days that separate us from Ohio State's march to Blacksburg. To help pass the time until the Buckeyes put the Sandman to bed I will countdown Ohio State's top 100 players according to the metric* listed at the bottom of this article.

Jack Tatum accomplished everything at Ohio State: National Title, Big Ten Title, All-American and All-Big Ten.

NO. 42 JACK TATUM, DB (1968-70)
Born: 1948 (Cherryville, NC)
High School: Passaic (NJ)
Died: 2010 (Oakland, CA)

OHIO STATE CAREER

• The Buckeyes were 27-2 with Tatum on the team.
• 1968 National Champion.
• 1970 National Champion.
• 1968 Big Ten Title.
• 1969 Big Ten Title.
• 1970 Big Ten Title.
• 1969 Defeated USC 27-16 to win the Rose Bowl.
• 1968 Defeated No. 1 Purdue 13-0.
• Went 2-1 against That Team.
• 1968 Defeated No. 1 Purdue 13-0.

HONORS

• 1969 All-American.
• 1970 All-American.
• 1968 All-Big Ten.
• 1969 All-Big Ten.
• 1970 All-Big Ten.
• 1981 Inducted into The Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame.
• 2004 Inducted into The College Football Hall of Fame.

NFL DRAFT
Round 1 to the Oakland Raiders with the 19th pick of the 1971 draft.
 

Tatum laying the wood on a Wolverine.

Jack Tatum's Ohio State career per The Ohio State Team Guide:

Jack Tatum was one of the dominant defensive players and most intimidating forces in college football during his career at Ohio State. A three-year starter, a two-time All-American and the national Defensive Player of the Year as a senior, he was known for his tenacity and fierce style of play.

The 6-1, 208-pound Tatum came to Ohio State as a running back, but moved to defense in the spring of his freshman year. He was a mainstay of the defense for the next three seasons as OSU rolled up a 27-2 record and won the 1968 national championship, two Big Ten titles and played in two Rose Bowls.

The Oakland Raiders selected him in the first round of the 1971 NFL Draft. In his nine-year career, he was named to the Pro Bowl three times and was a member of the 1976 Super Bowl champion Raiders. 

He was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1981 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2004. The outstanding defensive back in the Big Ten is awarded the Tatum-Woodson Defensive Back of the Year award.

Jack Tatum did not play football until he was a sophomore in high school.

Tatum's high school career and recruitment to Ohio State per Wikipedia:

Tatum was born in Cherryville, North Carolina, and grew up in Passaic, New Jersey, where he had little interest in playing sports in his early years. Tatum did not begin playing football until he entered his sophomore year at Passaic High School, where he played as a running back, fullback and defensive back and was selected first-team All-State. He was selected a high school All-American as a senior. In 1999, the Newark Star-Ledger named Tatum as one of New Jersey's top ten defensive players of the century.

Tatum visited a number of universities before starting his collegiate career with the Ohio State University Buckeyes. Head coach Woody Hayes recruited Tatum as a running back. However, assistant coach Lou Holtz convinced Hayes to switch Tatum to defensive back during Tatum's freshman season. Tatum was used by the Buckeyes to cover the opposing team's best wide receiver, but he also was used occasionally as a linebacker due to the nature of his hits and his innate ability to bring down even the biggest fullback or tight end.

He first became known to college football observers as a sophomore when he helped limit All-American Leroy Keyes during a 13-0 upset against the Purdue Boilermakers during the early part of the 1968 season.

Jack Tatum (not sure why he's wearing 31) made the hit that caused the immaculate reception. 

Tatum's role in the immaculate reception per Wikipedia:

Tatum was involved in one of the most famous plays in National Football League history, the Immaculate Reception, during the AFC divisional playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on December 23, 1972. With 22 seconds left in the game, Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw threw a pass to running back John "Frenchy" Fuqua. Tatum collided with Fuqua, knocking the ball into the air. The ball fell into the hands of Steelers running back Franco Harris, who ran it 42 yards for the game-winning touchdown. The play is famous because NFL rules at the time prohibited a receiver from batting the ball to another player of the same team. The referees ruled that Tatum had touched the ball and therefore Harris's touchdown was permitted, allowing the Steelers to win the game.

nflfilms.com posted this article with unseen footage of the play: The NFL’s Greatest Whodunnit: The Immaculate Reception

An article written by Mike Lopresti of usatoday.com that covers Jack Tatum's hit on Darryl Stingley, their lives after the hit and Jack Tatum's death.
 

For more information on other players who wore No. 32 go here.

Sources- The Ohio State Team Guide and Wikipedia
 

ALL PLAYERS COVERED TO DATE