Home Grown: Demario McCall Forged By Personal Determination, People At North Ridgeville

NORTH RIDGEVILLE, Ohio — Demario McCall sat at a track meet with his father, Jermaine Bennett, an uncle and a few friends. One of the fastest sophomores in the state of Ohio and an electric talent on the football field, those closest to McCall wondered out loud when the gifted North Ridgeville running back would catch the eye of recruiters and coaches from the nation's top college football programs.

"We were just sitting there and my dad would say, 'I can't wait until we blow up, man. I can't wait until they start reaching out,'" McCall told Eleven Warriors May 12. "It was quiet for so long, especially during my freshman year. My dad reading about other kids getting recruited and he was like, 'What do we have to do? We gotta go harder next year? What do we gotta do?'"

That was spring of 2014, a few months after Luke Durbin accepted the head coaching position at North Ridgeville, located roughly 30 minutes southwest of downtown Cleveland. A young, up-and-coming coach in the high school circuit, Durbin worked at Washington High School for four years and then under his father, Jeff, for three at Uniontown Lake.

When he got the job at North Ridgeville, however, it only took a few minutes of seeing McCall's tape to wonder the same thing.

"When I got here, obviously looking at his tape, I hadn't even coached him yet," Durbin told Eleven Warriors. "Just looking at it, it was off the charts and I thought he could definitely play at this level."

Durbin spoke to his father and his other coaching connections in Northeast Ohio to get the word out about McCall. In 1984, Jeff Durbin coached at the University of Akron with current Ohio State offensive coordinator Ed Warinner.

The elder Durbin made a call, Warinner saw the tape and the next thing McCall knew North Ridgeville athletic director Matt Yunker pulled him out of math class to heed a call from Urban Meyer.

"Mr. Yunker, he came down and got me and said, 'the big man wants to talk to you,'" McCall said. "I was thinking, 'What's going on?' But then I got here, he told me who it was and I got on the phone and the way he was talking to me it felt like he knew me already."

McCall took the call for his future in Durbin's sandwiched office buried in the back of North Ridgeville's gymnasium. Meyer offered the nation's second-ranked all-purpose back a scholarship in May 2014. Not even a year later, he was a Buckeye, the first member of his family to go to college.

"I couldn't stop smiling. It was a great feeling, like I had accomplished something and I was just getting started," McCall said of earning an offer. "I felt like I accomplished a big goal that I had already. There was more to come. Way more to come."

North Ridgeville is a community amid transition, with housing developments popping up and construction signs prevalent throughout. A new intermediate school is set to be ready for this fall, as well as a new football stadium.

Demario McCall won't get a chance to play there, but did more than enough to put his stamp on a football program trending upward under Luke Durbin. Following a 5-5 record his first season, Durbin and the Rangers turned in a 7-3 campaign and playoff berth in 2015 despite an injury-plagued senior season from their star.

"Get him the ball and don't mess him up," Durbin said of his coaching philosophy with McCall in the backfield. "It was a great pleasure."

Sure, having a talent like McCall makes any coach's job easier. A diligent worker, McCall's speed, ability to make guys miss and multi-faceted skill set sets him apart even though he is only listed at under 5-foot-9.5 inches and 171 pounds.

McCall did it all for the Rangers — he took handoffs, direct snaps, caught passes on the outside and from out of the backfield. Durbin even used him as a kickoff and punt returner, though McCall didn't get many chances there in the latter stages of his high school career. Word traveled quickly about his electric return for a score in North Ridgeville's 41-34 victory at North Olmsted in 2014, nixing any chance he'd field kicks from opponents with any sort of consistency.

"We had to work on squibs and onside kicks and bloops," Durbin said. "People would spray the ball all over the feel because they were not going to kick it anywhere near Demario."

McCall also ruled the track circuit, showing out in the 100-meter, 200-meter, and on the 4x100-meter relay team. The North Ridgeville basketball team received his services, too. As he walked toward Durbin's office the day of this interview, a stray basketball from an open gym bounced his way. McCall picked it up fired a shot from out of bounds that rimmed out. He blamed his attire — Timberlands, a beanie, hooded sweatshirt, and jeans — for the miss.

"If I had my hoopin' shoes on, that was in," he said, casually.

McCall claims he is forever cold, the reason he always wears layers regardless the temperature. Durbin doesn't understand it but didn't let it bother him as he coached his star and did his best to get the word out about his talents.

Once his highlight tape began to circulate and an offer from Ohio State and Meyer came, the floodgates opened.

"His film speaks for itself. Really, he had so many offers just off the tape, something that doesn't happen to too many kids," Durbin said. "Most of the time it is, 'hey we like you, but we want you to come and camp.' Because they want to see him in person.

"He was sort of a definite different case. It seemed for a while that about every week someone was calling from someplace in the country, offering him off the tape. It was kind of like the avalanche."

Schools as far as UCLA and Arizona State and as close as Bowling Green and Michigan State came calling, offering their best recruiting pitches.

"After he reached out, it was like mail every day," McCall said, snapping his fingers to represent how quickly his stock rose. "Phone calls every day. Coaches in every day. It got stressful because we didn't want it to come this bad, but it hit us pretty bad."

McCall handled it with class and appreciation, even when MAC programs like Eastern Michigan and Bowling Green with no realistic shot to land him descended upon North Ridgeville.

"Every college coach that came in, he looked them in the eye, he shook their hand, showed them all respect," Durbin said. "Sometimes word travels and sometimes it doesn't. We were still getting some MAC guys in, some small schools in and he didn't blow any of them off. He handled the whole process the way you would want somebody to handle the process."

That is McCall, Durbin said. A selfless player, he is quick to credit his teammates for a touchdown he scored or stick his nose in a book to maintain his 3.5 GPA. It's the kind of mind the administration hopes to continue to mold at North Ridgeville. Other players still in the program have received attention from Division I programs. Doors continue to open.

It wouldn't have happened had it not been for McCall — he and Durbin helped garner attention for a growing school and community.

"My freshman year, the staff here they were so nice to me and comforting. They brought me in as a family basically," McCall said. "I was doing something good with it, so it was like I was getting rewarded but I was getting rewarded with the love. I wanted to keep pushing, I wanted to keep doing it. I want to get better, I want to do better for this school.

"After that, I became basically a leader in this school. Like all my coaches told me to be. My basketball coach, my football coach — 'become a leader.' And as I became a leader, kids started to follow because they seen what I was doing good and the teachers looked at me as a leader. So, therefore, the comfort I got, I put them on the map but I could not have done it without them."

An invite to the 2016 Under Armour All-American Bowl came last September, a proverbial bow on top of McCall's decorated Ranger athletic career. That career didn't start with Durbin as his football coach, but it ends with him at Ohio State with his assistance.

"The moment I walked into Ohio State, I felt the comfort. I felt the love," McCall said. "Every time I walked in there, somebody said 'what's up?' to me or 'Hey, D.' People usually didn't call me that, only if I knew you. Every time I walked past them it was like they knew me already. Like that was where I was supposed to be. With their body language, you're supposed to be here."

It's 4:30 a.m. and Demario McCall's alarm clock is shrieking at him to get out of bed. It's time to train.

McCall is a playmaker between the lines, equipped with dazzling speed and an array of moves Ohio State plans to use in multiple areas during his career. His lack of size, however, is an area of focus for Mickey Marotti. The Buckeyes plan to add 15-20 pounds to his frame so he can be a bigger contributor in even more areas of their offense. The uptick in weight will also help him withstand the step up in competition against the most talented college football athletes the country has to offer.

There is a problem, though, which is why McCall arrived at North Ridgeville High School every morning before class begins to complete a workout.

"It's hard for me to gain weight because I can't sit down," McCall said.

Hyperactive by nature, McCall chose Ohio State as a Cleveland kid who can make people look silly in space and the ball in his hand. He did that in early May at the North-South game in Dayton, Ohio, with a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and then another 62-yard catch and run. He'll get plenty of chances to do the same in Columbus.

"With the offense, I felt like I fit in perfectly," McCall said. "I liked the fast tempo, I liked the coaching. The way they do things up there is pretty great. And it's a winning program, so why not?"

McCall received plenty of attention once the Buckeyes extended him a scholarship offer, which wouldn't have happened had it not been for his coach, Luke Durbin. Durbin's connections and McCall's highlight tape made it possible.

His legend grew in Northeast Ohio, and stories spread of the special things he could do with the ball in his hands.

"We ran a hurry-up offense anyhow, because it was turn around, hand the ball to Demario and he would go score," Durbin said. "We might as well have been running fast tempo because it just put the defense back out."

McCall came a long way from a relatively unknown sophomore sitting at that track meet with his family. He is blessed with abilities not many have and does it with a flair. A flair meant for Ohio State.

"I'd rather make somebody miss any day than try to run right through you," McCall said. "It don't matter where you're at or how you're standing or how you're moving. I'm gonna get it."