They strolled together in packs, uneasy smiles and quick left to right looks gracing their faces, direct representations of the teenagers they are. It was as if they headed to a class they scheduled together so as to not have to sit alone.
Only this was the Ohio State athletics job fair. Roughly 60 companies from Central Ohio took over the Huntington Club at Ohio Stadium Wednesday, a valuable networking opportunity Urban Meyer established to prepare his players for life after football. It didn't matter if you were a true freshman walk-on or fifth-year senior starter. You had to be there wearing a shirt and tie, business cards in hand and a smile on your face.
As an 18- or 19-year-old kid, that can be overwhelming — especially considering the majority of Meyer's 2016 recruiting class moved into its new dormitories not even two weeks earlier and recently started a full class load.
"Man, this is a lot," one freshman said. "I don't even have a full résumé done yet."
Welcome to the life of a high-profile Division I athlete. You're recruited because you were great in high school and expected to be the same way at the next level regardless the situation in front of you.
"It's very important and can be a whirlwind for guys that aren't mentally prepared for all this," Ohio State senior center Pat Elflein said.
Meyer's national recruiting prowess brought players from 11 states to Columbus either in January as early enrollees or in June just before summer classes started. Even before those began, however, Mickey Marotti and his strength staff have workouts planned before the sun rises. Freshmen are expected to be there, keep up, then be ready for whatever else Meyer has planned. Like a job fair.
It is a lot, and it never stops.
"People come and talk to you about the corporate world so those are all things you can take advantage of," quarterback J.T. Barrett said. "You’re just learning."
Meyer demands excellence, so you better be able to handle it and learn quickly or risk being left behind. He and his staff recruit the top talent in the country to Ohio State every single year and Meyer's 50-4 record in four seasons shows he knows what he is doing.
Each one of his assistants roamed the job fair Wednesday, dressed as if they were the college kids trying to convince someone else to hire them.
"It's important for us to be here," offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Ed Warinner said. "Most guys know what they're doing, but the younger guys might not."
Sure, freshmen have time before they need to truly worry about post-college employment. The percentages are not in favor for them to make it to the NFL, but they came to Ohio State with that as the end goal. So in all seriousness, they should be able to handle all the madness dropped upon their plate once they organize their new room and exchange phone numbers with their new roommates.
"It’s not one of those things quite yet where if you’re in your junior or senior year that you know you’ve gotta find a job and you know the NFL is not really always going for you," Barrett said. "I guess I don’t see it as stressful but one of those things where you have the opportunity to learn and see how things are."
Meyer depends on players like Elflein, Barrett, and middle linebacker Raekwon McMillan to show the mass amount of youth in the program how things are done. The 5 a.m. workouts, the job fairs and getting things headed in the right direction with regards to classes.
For example, the starting quarterback knows it is his responsibility with four-star recruit Dwayne Haskins Jr. The two barely left each other's side while at the job fair, save for when Barrett gave a few minutes of his time to reporters.
"Just trying to show him the ropes and show him how it is here at Ohio State," Barrett said of Haskins. "Then also just being a quarterback and you really use being a quarterback to your advantage here. People are already going to know your name and they want to hire you because you're a quarterback and you lead the team.
"We handle things with discipline, we have a proper work ethic. All of these different things that play into being a quarterback you actually use in the business world. That's what I'm trying to get him to see, to meet people, shake people's hands, get business cards. So when it comes four years later he can have things better going than I did."
The freshmen football players stayed the longest at the job fair Wednesday, soaking it in and attempting to get in the good graces of their coaches. They may not have left their packs of comfortability much, but that's all part of being a teenager in a new environment.
"I remember my freshman year when we came into this, the first time I was like 'What is going on? Who are all these companies?'" Elflein said. "It's crazy how fast it goes. Anything can happen, football doesn't last forever. This is your life now."
