Growing up in Columbus, Luke Lachey went to just about every Ohio State home game from the time he was seven years old.
Lachey’s father, Jim, was an All-American guard for the Buckeyes who is now the color commentator for Ohio State’s radio broadcasts. Raised in a house full of Buckeye fans, the younger Lachey has fond memories of throwing a football around before and after games at the Shoe on Saturday afternoons.
Luke Lachey is hoping to catch some more passes at Ohio Stadium this Saturday, but this time he’ll be there as an opposing player when Ohio State hosts Iowa in both teams' seventh game of the 2022 season.
Before Lachey became a Hawkeye, he had hopes of following in his father’s footsteps and playing for the Buckeyes. A three-star recruit out of Grandview Heights High School, Lachey camped at Ohio State during the summer of 2019 in hopes of earning an offer from his hometown school. Ohio State ended up offering fellow in-state tight end Joe Royer instead, and Lachey went on to commit to Iowa just over a month later.
While Lachey was disappointed not to receive an Ohio State offer at the time, he believes he ultimately ended up in the right place.
“It was definitely disappointing at the time, but I remember I was driving to the place we vacation at, Bald Head Island in North Carolina, and I was in the car with my dad and I got off the phone with (Ohio State offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Kevin) Wilson and then right after that I set up a visit to come to Iowa,” Lachey said Wednesday. “And so it all kind of worked out in the end for me. I think that that might have been the best thing for me. I love where I am. And I don't think there's a place better for me.”
Now a redshirt sophomore at Iowa, Lachey is the Hawkeyes’ second-leading receiver this season with 157 yards and a touchdown on just nine catches. In an offense that regularly utilizes multiple tight ends, Lachey has played 248 snaps this season as Iowa’s No. 2 tight end, per Pro Football Focus. He has started each of the Hawkeyes’ last four games.
His growth this season has impressed Iowa’s coaches, who believe Lachey’s best football is still to come.
“He's improving in the run game and he's improving in the pass game and his best ball is ahead of him,” Iowa tight ends coach Abdul Hodge said of Lachey, who has put on more than 30 pounds since arriving at Iowa and is now 6-foot-6 and 252 pounds. “If he continues to work and we put great people around him and continue to push him forward and continue to demand that he gets better on a consistent basis, I think the sky's the limit for Luke Lachey. I think he's getting better at a fast pace and we just need to make sure that continues to go upward.”
Lachey says he’s approaching his return to Ohio Stadium as a business trip this week as the Hawkeyes aspire to earn an upset win on Saturday. But he says it is exciting to have the chance to play in his hometown, especially knowing his father will be watching him from the broadcast booth.
“It's definitely a business trip at the end of the day, but it is a little bit more exciting to go home and play in Columbus,” Lachey said. “I think it means a lot to my parents and to my whole family.”
Luke Lachey had interest in playing for Ohio State as a recruit, but ended up at Iowa after not receiving an offer from the Buckeyes.
Lachey said his mother has been at every Iowa game he’s played in except one, but Saturday will be a rare opportunity for Jim Lachey to not only watch his son play in person but call a game his son is playing in. He’s never been on the broadcast for one of his son’s games before, but he’s looking forward to watching his son play from that vantage point for the first time.
“It's exciting,” Jim Lachey told Eleven Warriors. “Grateful that he's had this opportunity, that we get this opportunity. You know, it's kind of one of those things, you never know how it's all gonna line up. But, you know, this is my 26th year doing this game and sooner or later, maybe the odds will happen and it did here in year 26 to get a chance to call my son who’s on the opposing team, and that's gonna be fun to see.”
Like Luke, Jim knows he has a job to do and can’t get too caught up in the emotion of the family reunion. But he acknowledges his eyes might go toward his son more than they normally would for an opposing player.
“Fortunately, I work with the best in the business, Paul Keels and Skip Mosic, they’ll keep me on track,” Jim Lachey said. “But yeah, I'm sure my binoculars will be on number 85 for a lot of it.”
While Jim would surely love to have the opportunity to call all of his son’s games if he played for the Buckeyes, the elder Lachey believes his son found the right fit at Iowa and is happy to see him making an impact for the Hawkeyes.
“You go where you’re loved so to speak, and where it works out best, and it just worked out best for him to go to Iowa,” Jim said. “He's been around Ohio State football a lot, so certainly, I think growing up he certainly was a fan of it, watching all those guys excel. But now he's had an opportunity to go to Iowa and hey, once you get out there, you find out that this is pretty good football, too. So yeah, we've become fans of Iowa since Luke's been there, and it's kind of nice to have a team out there in the West.”
Luke says he hasn’t heard too much leading up to the game from his family, who he said is “trying to give me some space this week.” But he’s looking forward to seeing many family members at Ohio Stadium on Saturday, also including his uncle Rob Lachey, Ohio State’s senior director of equipment services.
Regardless of how the game plays out, Saturday is sure to be a memorable day for the Lachey family as Luke returns to the stadium he spent so much time at as a child. But the Hawkeyes expect Luke to be fully focused on trying to help his team win amid the emotions of the day.
“He knows where he's going. He understands that, he's aware of that. But more importantly, he knows that we're a 3-3 ballclub that's looking to get another win on the road in a tough environment,” Hodge said. “So he's doing all he can do right now to stay locked in and stay focused and not get distracted and just stay focused on the things that's gonna lead to us executing and getting the W.”
