When they first told Urban Meyer about it, Ohio State's head football coach's response was simple.
"We're going to win this thing."
Meyer is among the elite coaches in college football, amassing an outstanding 154-27 record in 14 seasons. He owns three national championship rings, and won the first-ever College Football Playoff with the Buckeyes in 2014.
Ohio State's football coach stresses winning on and off the field with his players, even implementing a series of presentations in a program dubbed "Real Life Wednesdays" designed to educate them about life after football. Bigwigs like Dan Gilbert of the Cleveland Cavaliers and restauranteur Cameron Mitchell swung by the Woody Hayes Athletic Center within the last year.
And now, Meyer is confident a pair of student-athletes not even on scholarship in his program are in place to succeed at Ohio State's form of politics: Undergraduate Student Government elections.
Meet Cin'Quan Haney and Curtis Henry, two walk-ons slated as write-in candidates for balloting when polls open Monday.
“I see it in Real Life Wednesdays, he pushes us not to just be football players but people of great character and know that there's more to life than just playing football. When he saw that we were running for student government President and Vice President, that really brought sparks to his eyes.”– Cin'Quan Haney
"Biggest reason we decided to do this is because we want to also educate people that running for USG is possible," Henry told Eleven Warriors this week. "I mean, we're two walk-ons on the football team and we find a way to run for USG as well.
"We know that it's all going to be a time commitment, but we want to show people that this is possible and with the right mindset anything can be done."
Henry, a third-year studying sports industry, is running for vice president alongside Haney, a third-year in physics. The latter plays cornerback on the football team, while Henry roams the defensive line. Both say they've been a part of Meyer's program since spring 2015 and are anxious to show their peers offices in student government can be held by anyone — even athletes.
Their slogan is "Write Us In, Not Off," a phrases slapped all over their campaign website as well as Twitter and Instagram accounts. They indicated their intent to run Feb. 25 on social media and use the hashtag #TogetherOSU, imploring the student body to vote for diversity in student government in the hope to reach and represent all students.
"I just felt like the student government needs to have accurate representation of us and the voice of the student body," Haney told Eleven Warriors.
Football translates, too. Haney and Henry see the same determination in USG used to finish a drill or workout to further perfect your craft to prevent you from being the weak link among your unit. Or in an even bigger scope, your team.
"One of the things that I've been preaching to a lot of students on campus is one of the core things that we learned with the football team: I tell them that I want everyone to feel like they're not 1 in 60,000, but one in the Union," Henry said. "And I know with football, that's always been a big thing with the team that we're all one unit and we all want the same things done."
Haney and Henry said Meyer is "if not our biggest supporter, one of our biggest supporters," urging them to campaign and share their voice just like their opposition.
Gerard Basalla and Danielle Di Scala are running unopposed on the USG election ballot, but Haney and Henry are write-ins along with other students. No other candidates have the words "Ohio State football player" tied to their operation, however, something Haney aren't above using in their campaign. That, and everything else they're involved in on campus.
"Not only am I involved in the football program, but I'm also on the exec board for a few organizations and a member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity, inc.," Haney said. "We're using everything that we have on our plate in the campaign."
That includes Meyer, who Haney and Henry said they plan to ask for promotion help on social media before the election (Meyer's Twitter account had more than 383,000 followers as of Sunday). The coach has not only been supportive, but encouraging.
"Coach Meyer, he's big on his players doing great things in life," Haney said. "I see it in Real Life Wednesdays, he pushes us not to just be football players but people of great character and know that there's more to life than just playing football.
"When he saw that we were running for student government President and Vice President, that really brought sparks to his eyes."
It likely wasn't the same twinkle that resides in Meyer's eyes on Saturday afternoons in the fall, but is probably of the same lineage: The desire to win.
"He's super excited," Haney said of his head coach.
Added Henry: "We don't think of this as like a job. We think of this as something we love to do. We wake up every day, we got to practice, we go to class and we go campaigning. We don't look at it like, 'OK, this is going to be another long day.' We look at it as 'Hey, we want to make a difference on this campus.'"
