Before Joey Bosa arrived on Ohio State’s campus, he posted a photo on his Instagram account of him standing side-by-side with former Buckeyes All-American John Simon with a caption that read, “This is what I am looking to turn into at Ohio State.”
Fast-forward three years and Bosa has achieved that same level of success Simon had in Columbus. Bosa was an All-American last season as a sophomore and earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year honors — both of which were accomplished by Simon during his senior year.
“He’s definitely a physical force on the field, I think everybody — that’s the obvious aspect of the game,” Simon told Eleven Warriors of Bosa last week. “What he’s good at is he gets better every week and he’s learning from his mistakes. From year to year, he just continues — his stats get better, his technique gets better and he’s always a guy who is looking for ways to improve his game. You can see by his production on the field, and the production of the whole team winning a national championship, it’s paid off for everyone.”
Simon and Bosa’s relationship goes back a little bit, dating back to around the time Bosa posted that photo on his Instagram.
When Bosa was a highly-touted recruit out of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., he was visiting Ohio State — a place which always seemed to be at the top of Bosa’s list due to his strong family ties — and had a meeting with Simon. Bosa’s father was in attendance, as well.
The three discussed life at Ohio State, what would be expected from Bosa should he choose to become a Buckeye and a few other odds-and-ends type things.
“They just wanted to know what the truth was like. You know, you hear so many rumors about what goes on and they want to sit down with a player who has been through it for a couple years,” Simon said. “I just told him the truth about how we do things at Ohio State and how day-to-day your schedule goes. Just kind of typical things that a recruit would want to know, his parents want to know and how we do things at Ohio State.”
Obviously, whatever was said, worked. Bosa wound up choosing Ohio State over a large number of schools who coveted him. Simon doesn’t want to take full credit for the decision, but he’ll take a piece of it.
“He’s a great guy, does things the right way and I wish him the best.”– John Simon on Joey Bosa
“I don’t think that was all my doing,” he joked, “but I’ll take a little credit for that.”
Ohio State fans are thankful, too, as Bosa still has at least one more season in Columbus. He will try to repeat the success he had last season as a sophomore where he recorded 13.5 sacks and 21 tackles for loss — both numbers were tops in the Big Ten by a rather large margin.
And while Simon has since moved on to the NFL and is currently playing for the Houston Texans, he still gets to swing by Ohio State’s campus in the offseason and catch up with the Buckeyes’ current All-American defensive lineman.
“We do have a great relationship. In the offseason I see him almost every day,” Simon said. “He’s a great guy, does things the right way and I wish him the best.”
