Jonathan Wells might still be best known as the guy who got caught.
He's not, though. This was his epitaph for two miserable years; a brutal stretch which included two rivalry losses and a coaching change tethered to rivalry futility. Jonathan Wells, Running Back, Ohio State: The Guy Who Got Caught From Behind in Ann Arbor.
Wells participated in both losses, most prominently as a sophomore when he was racing toward the goal line right up until the moment he was pulled down just short of crossing it.
A 76-yard run that would have been celebrated for decades had it gone 82 yards. Imagine Braxton Miller's Blacksburg spin but with him getting tackled at the 6-yard line and the Buckeyes settling for a field goal in a close loss. That's not a beloved meme or moment, it's a footnote.
For Wells, getting caught in Ann Arbor was his epitaph until he was given the opportunity to rewrite it. Three hundred and fifty-one carries later, Wells found himself back in his familiar nightmare, rumbling toward the same end zone with Michigan's secondary in hot pursuit once again.
He was the last notable Ohio State running back of the era played in the decades-long shadow cast by the 1968 team which every subsequent edition was compared to. The next great Buckeye running back was still a sophomore at Harding when Wells wrote what would be his first epitaph.
Everyone thought he was taking it to the house. He almost took it to his grave instead.
Wells' 76-yard run ultimately resulted in an Ohio State field goal attempt.
The immortal, beautiful and insidious lesson of Ohio State playing Michigan every season is the games don't just happen once. Every edition goes into eternal syndication. Woody still goes for two because he can't go for three - it happened in 1968 but we still talk about it.
Desmond Howard struck his Heisman pose over 30 years ago, but you still see it all the time. Some moments become timeless. Hassan Haskins ran for five touchdowns. Dwayne Haskins threw for six. Eternal syndication.
The only cursed 76-yard run in program history is barely remembered outside of witnesses from that afternoon and The Game's armchair historians, for three valid reasons. One, this took place in John Cooper's twilight with the weakest team of his making. No Earle Bruce players on the roster in 1999.
So it was the 10th-worst Michigan loss of the Coop era. Out of ten. One has to finish last.
Two, this was the penultimate rivalry loss of an era extinguished by Jim Tressel. We mostly remember Coop's catastrophic Michigan losses that compromised Rose Bowls, Big Ten titles, national titles or all three in one afternoon. The 1999 blip deprived the Buckeyes of bowl eligibility and possible consideration for the MicronPC Bowl.
And three, this play here. The rewrite. Two years later, same team, same back, same direction.
Wells' second touchdown on the return trip to Ann Arbor in 2001. He would add a third before halftime.
A rare instance of flawless recourse for the sport, let alone a rivalry. Wells has been The Guy Who Scored Three 1st Half Touchdowns in Ann Arbor ever since that afternoon. The previous epitaph didn't survive his graduation.
Most guys aren't quite as fortunate. Shawn Springs is pictured atop this article in his final college home game, participating in the very first play that's mentioned whenever his name comes up.
He was the conference's Defensive Player of the Year and an All America cornerback who recorded no interceptions in 1996 explicitly because quarterbacks chose to avoid throwing in his direction. Ohio State's defense allowed nine points a game that season, in large part because throwing against them was a fool's errand.
The play pictured above was not made possible by one freak accident. It only transpired as it did because of two - both Springs and Ty Howard slipped on the Ohio Stadium grass after the snap. If anyone has the time and the all-22 tapes to review the 1994, 1995 and 1996 seasons, try to find a second instance where this happened over the course of three years.
This sequence sprung Tai Streets for the game's only touchdown on a slant which should have only gone for a few yards. One year later, Springs was starting NFL games. No recourse. The Slip is the epitaph, as infuriating, unfair and inaccurate as it might be.
Some moments become timeless. Hassan Haskins ran for five touchdowns. Dwayne Haskins threw for six.
You may not have realized Howard fell down too, right in the middle of the field at the center of the hole Streets ran through. Howard on his feet, at worst, slows him down. Tombstones have short attention spans.
If you're talking about Springs' Ohio State career and slip doesn't enter the conversation, it's out of respect for one of the all-time greats cursed with an unfair epitaph. Speaking of plays that should have only gone for a few yards, Cam Brown's time in Columbus extends back to Urban Meyer's tenure.
He left campus with two sets of Gold Pants. Brown is now in the NFL, but in the 2021 Michigan game Haskins hurdled him en route to the Wolverines' first rivalry win in a decade. It's okay if you don't remember it; some stuff has happened since.
Last season Brown whiffed so badly on an out route that it turned a short gain into a 69-yard touchdown. His next snap will be with the Los Angeles Chargers. No recourse. Terribly unfortunate rewrite. Getting hurdled in a far less consequential sequence was a kinder fate.
Cameron Martinez was on the field for exactly four plays in November. He was cartoonishly spun around like a top for a 75-yard Cornelius Johnson touchdown on one of them, and if you're feeling generous you can put that alongside his garbage time pick-six against Tulsa.
Martinez is from Michigan and still on the roster, but in the absence of a Wellsian rewrite in his home state his big moment was seeing the back of Johnson's jersey. If this all feels morbid, it's not. John O'Korn, Josh Metellus, Chad Henne, Rich Rodriguez. Live long enough and you'll accept that nature is in perfect balance.
That next great running back who was still a sophomore at Harding when Wells got caught was in the building as a senior on his official Michigan visit when Ohio State's last notable running back playing in the 1968 shadow played in his final regular season game.
Maurice Clarett ended up enrolling with the visitors that offseason. He scored a touchdown against the Wolverines a year later and helped extend the Buckeyes' rivalry streak to two straight for the first time in two decades while writing a bittersweet epitaph of his own.
Fair or not, that's how it works at Ohio State - and Michigan. If you don't have the appetite to risk being remembered forever for one unfortunate moment, you might be better off at a safer program where being unmemorable is part of the value proposition.
Because it can get lonely in this mausoleum. It's a lot more crowded in the unmarked graves.
