A pair of former Ohio State quarterbacks are teaming up in an effort to bring an elite prep academy to the Buckeye state.
The state of Ohio currently has nothing like IMG Academy – a prep school in Bradenton, Florida that serves as a boarding school and athletic training center for elite high school athletes.
Braxton Miller and Troy Smith reportedly want to change that.
The former Buckeye quarterbacks are part of a group interested in purchasing the former Urbana University campus with the goal of transforming it into a prep academy that Miller likens to IMG Academy, Marcus Hartman of the Springfield News-Sun reports.
The school would be called Urbana Prep and Sports Institute.
“My Uncle Paul reached out to me about the acquisition with the campus shutting down,” Miller told Hartman. “It was a great opportunity to make my dream come true to have a school in the Midwest, do something big in the Midwest, to bring sports to the Midwest in that format.”
Urbana University had been operating as a branch of Franklin University since its purchase in 2014, but it was shut down last year due to declining enrollment numbers and the COVID-19 pandemic.
When Urbana University operated, it sponsored 21 teams at the Division II level, including football. With those facilities already in place, it is a prime candidate for what Miller and Smith are trying to start.
“Having something like this that already has all the facilities that we need, it was a great idea, a great opportunity for us to jump on it and try to attack the process of creating our own school,” Miller told Hartman.
The process is by no means complete. A Franklin University spokesman told Hartman that the property is still for sale and no contracts have been signed and Miller said the group is "taking our time" and "making the right decisions."
If it does happen, it will obviously have huge ramifications for Ohio high school sports and Ohio State recruiting.
