Giving back to his community has always been important for Ohio State safety Lathan Ransom, and he spent part of his day doing that on Monday.
Ransom spent a couple of hours on Monday afternoon at the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio, which provides housing for out-of-town families of children who are hospitalized at the nearby Nationwide Children’s Hospital and other hospitals around Columbus. Ransom served lunch to families staying at the house, something he wanted to do because of the example that’s been set for him by his mother, who is a social worker.
“Just seeing how much they do for the community and how much they help families in need, it really brought me to this,” Ransom said. “And my mom also has a social work background. So I really wanted to get in here and kind of see what my mom does, because I know how much she helps people back at home, so I just wanted to see what they do around here, and this place is an amazing place.”
Ransom told Eleven Warriors that he wants to continue finding ways to give back to the Columbus community, knowing he has the platform to do so as an Ohio State football player.
“Especially back at home, I tried to do the most I can to help my community. And now that I have roots coming up in Columbus, I just want to try to start helping this community as well,” said Ransom, a sophomore from Tucson, Arizona. “I think when I’m focused on football, it’s focus on football. But there’s also time where I need to put aside that there’s other people that are in tougher situations than I’m in, and I’m trying to help them because I’m blessed and I’ve got a lot of big opportunities and I want to just help give back to them.”
Taking some time to give back on Monday helped Ransom, he said, deal with the disappointment that came with Ohio State’s loss to Michigan on Saturday, a loss that kept the Buckeyes out of playing in this week’s Big Ten Championship Game.
While Ransom said it was “too soon” to say how the Buckeyes would move forward as a defense, as they won’t know what bowl game they’re playing in until Sunday, he said he is looking forward to getting back to work even though Ohio State’s College Football Playoff hopes look bleak.
“We’re just focused and want to get back to work,” Ransom said. “There’s a lot to chew on. We’ve just gotta learn from this game. That’s all I gotta say.”
Ransom, who said he has “learned a lot this year” as he’s played multiple positions – cover safety and free safety – and seen regular playing time all season for the first time in his Ohio State career, said the Buckeyes have to “just remember how this feels” after suffering their first loss to Michigan since 2011.
“Remember how this feels, and train to where we don’t have to feel this again,” Ransom said. “We gotta just learn. We gotta learn from how we played and watch the film. Really take ownership of what we did wrong.”
