For whatever reason, it took Chase Farris longer than expected to finally get his shot.
Roughly a month before word began surfacing concerning former Buckeye coach Jim Tressel's knowledge of NCAA violations regarding his players profiting off their memorabilia, Farris signed his letter of intent to head to Columbus out of Elyria High School.
"It's been a long time coming," Farris said in February 2011. "Just to sign on the dotted line was a wonderful feeling."
Those wonderful feelings turned sour with Ohio State's eventual internal investigation and the resignation of the man who sold Farris on the idea to play for the Buckeyes. Tressel, the man the now fifth-year senior thought he'd be going to battle with on Saturday afternoons in his early 20s, had to step away before Farris' Buckeye career began.
"Coach always says it’s not will your number be called, it’s will you be ready when your number is called. Right now, I’m just out there trying to grind every day and just put everything together and hopefully I’ll come out on top."– Chase Farris
However, through a pair of coaching transitions, position changes and knee surgery, Farris gutted it and remained a Buckeye. He pushed himself to finally get the opportunity to produce between the lines in a consistent role for the Scarlet and Gray.
"Right tackle is cleared up,” Farris' third collegiate head coach, Urban Meyer, said April 13. “Chase Farris will start if he continues to progress at right tackle.”
A starting spot is all but his, even though he entered the program as a four-star defensive end prior to 2011. Farris switched to offensive line in the fall of 2012, only to head to the other side of the ball the following year as a pile of injuries caused depth issues on the D-line.
"I’ve just been taking it one day at a time trying to get better every day," Farris said this spring.
That simplistic approach won over offensive line coach Ed Warinner a long time ago, but with the injury halting his development and Ohio State's offensive line operating at full bore during its run to the first ever College Football Playoff National Championship, there just wasn't space for him on the field.
"A year ago at this time, he didn't practice. So we got him in the summer and it took a while for him to get his rhythm," Warinner said this spring of Farris. "He hit stride where we thought he was really playing good towards the end of the season. But you got a starting lineup, we're on a roll, Darryl Baldwin's playing his butt off so we spot played him a little bit here and there. But just didn't really shake up the rotation."
Warinner added that Farris was ready to be a starter by midseason, a statement the latter proved accurate in the second quarter of Ohio State's 42-35 victory against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.
With starting center Jacoby Boren sidelined with a lower body injury for an undisclosed period, Pat Elflein slid over from his right guard spot to snap the ball to Cardale Jones and Farris hopped right into his place flawlessly.
Ezekiel Elliott took a handoff from Jones and rode the push from Elflein, Farris and others right up the middle to score a touchdown. It cut Alabama's lead to 21-12, ending a drive in which the Buckeyes absolutely had to score a touchdown.
"Coach always says it’s not will your number be called, it’s will you be ready when your number is called," Farris said. "Right now, I’m just out there trying to grind every day and just put everything together and hopefully I’ll come out on top."
Though Farris was relegated to the bench on Ohio State's next series, it appears he's finally ready when his number's been called. The 6-foot-5, 310-pounder is fresh off a charity trip to Costa Rica with Joshua Perry and others, primed for his turn at the position that's had a different starter every year since 2011.
"I’ve been around the program enough to know what it takes here and there," Farris said. "It’s just taking that final step of just grinding every day and making sure you get better every day. Just taking no days off."
