A former Heisman Trophy winner and a two-time All-American headlined the 2014 Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame class as Troy Smith and Antoine Winfield were among the 13 inductees Friday.
Smith, the 2006 Heisman winner, took a wrong turn on his way to the Ohio Union for Friday's induction ceremony, but when he finally arrived he sat down at a table to speak with a group of reporters about his time at Ohio State and what the induction into the school's Hall of Fame meant to him.
"It’s amazing," Smith said. "When it was first bestowed on me and they called, I was taken back because usually, you think about things like this coming years and years and years afterwards. I think to be inducted by the time you’re 30, you should be pretty proud of that.”
One of the things Smith is most proud of about his time as a Buckeye is his unblemished record against Michigan.
As the Ohio State starting quarterback, Smith finished his career 3-0 against the Wolverines, but may have saved his best performance for the 2006 season when both teams entered unbeaten and Smith led the Buckeyes to a 42-39 victory.
But despite having such success against Michigan, Smith said he didn't fully understand the rivalry until Michigan Week of his redshirt freshman season in 2002 when he was on the scout team.
“At first I didn’t really have an understanding to what the rivalry was until I literally had to sit down and take the blue electric tape and the little wings and put it on my hat and I had to be a certain player. I’m talking about the scout team guys were hated, though," Smith said of the Michigan rivalry. "We took shots and they weren’t messing around. ... The precedence was there: This week was something special, it was not to be played with and it’s either do or don’t. The running joke would always be the streets of Columbus would be a lot more cooler when you win this game at the end of the season."
After leaving Ohio State, Smith was drafted in the by the Baltimore Ravens in the fifth round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He spent three seasons in Baltimore and also spent time playing for the San Francisco 49ers. Now, Smith is the quarterback for the Montreal Alouettes in the CFL.
Though he said the cable in Montreal isn't up to par making it difficult to catch a ton of Ohio State games, Smith still weighed in on injured Buckeye Braxton Miller.
“I think in order for him to become the greatest and the best that he has to be, he has to hear the good and the not so good," Smith said. "I think the majority of the hits that he takes are kind of self-inflicted wounds because as the super athlete that we know that he is, I think he goes back to what he knows best: his athleticism."
"... I don’t want him to be a glorified Denard Robinson. I want to see him play the position. I wanna see him be a quarterback. I know he loves to be a quarterback, regardless of when he runs the football he looks like a superhero."
A two-time All-American and former Thorpe Award winner for the Buckeyes, Winfield continued his success in the NFL. He played in the league for 14 seasons with the Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings, making it to five Pro Bowls before retiring in 2013.
“It’s fun for me. I really haven’t been on campus since like 1998 so everything’s new," Winfield said. "Everything looks new. It took me awhile to find the Union. It’s been that long so, I’m just excited to be back.”
Reflecting on his time at Ohio State, Winfield said there was one game in particular that stood out among the rest: the 1997 Rose Bowl. He said the game back then was much different than it is today.
“We pressed a little bit back then, but we blitzed a lot more, I think, too from the cornerback position," Winfield said. "It’s a different game, it’s a totally different game. I don’t think the teams were throwing the ball as much or opening up in shotgun as much. Back then, we had Eddie George running the ball so Power-I, things like that.”
While Winfield admitted the game changed, he said throughout his time as a player both at Ohio State and in the NFL, his game did not.
“I’ve been blessed I would have to say," Winfield said. "I haven’t changed my game since I was 8 years old. Put on my pee wee tape and watch that, and watch my last game in the NFL and I played the exact same so I’ve been blessed.”
“Every time I stepped out there on the field I just wanted to compete," he added. "It was all about competition. My goal was to go out there and stand out, try to be the best player on the field and some games I accomplished that.”
Other members of the 2014 class included Tessa Bonhomme (women's hockey), Nancy Darsch (women's basketball coach), Boaz Eillis (fencing), Rosalind Goodwin (women's track and field), Ralph Guarasci (men's golf), Russ Hellickson (wrestling coach), Becky Kim (synchronized swimming), Tami Smith (women's track and field), Bob Vogel (football), Ralph Wolf (football) and Jeremy Wurtzman (men's tennis).
The 13 inductees of the 2014 Hall of Fame class will be honored at halftime of Saturday's game against Cincinnati.
