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Joey O'Connor told a crowded room of supporters inside the Windsor High School cafeteria on Wednesday night that he wouldn't disappoint them.
Hold him to his word.
The 6-foot-4, 295-pound O'Connor, who signed a national letter of intent to play for Ohio State University on Wednesday's national signing day, hasn't disappointed Windsor football fans since he stepped onto the field as a starting offensive lineman his freshman year all the way to becoming an All-American offensive tackle his senior year who helped lead the Wizards to the Class 3A state championship last December.
O'Connor, the son of Ann and Joe O'Connor, signed his letter of intent at 7:01 a.m. and Ann faxed the letter to Columbus, Ohio, an hour later when she got to work at the University of Northern Colorado.
The hulking Windsor senior greeted every person who walked through the cafeteria door with a hand shake or a hug before the signing ceremony.
“I won't disappoint you. I will work hard,” O'Connor said to more than 150 people who helped him celebrate his special day. “I'll do everything I can to represent Windsor well.”
O'Connor, a four-star (out of 5) recruit and Under Armour All-American, is part of Ohio State coach Urban Meyer's first recruiting class. Rivals.com ranked the class as the fourth best in the country, while ESPNU ranked it as the No. 6 best class in the nation. A one-year bowl ban and probation, the resignation of head coach Jim Tressel in 2011 and the loss of scholarships imposed by the NCAA on the Ohio State football program when players sold memorabilia in exchange for cash and tattoos didn't seem to matter to recruits once Meyer was hired as head coach on Nov. 28.
“I'm going to go in trying to play at center. I feel like I have the leadership and the ability to play center,” said O'Connor, who will turn 18 on Wednesday. “If not, then I'll move to guard.”
O'Connor, ranked as the 102nd best player in the country by Rivals.com and No. 104 in the ESPNU 150, is the first Windsor lineman to receive a Division I football scholarship since Broc Finlayson signed with Colorado State University in 1997. O'Connor verbally committed to Penn State in June 2011, but decommitted from the university on Nov. 10 following the child sex-abuse scandal involving former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky and the firing of head football coach Joe Paterno. He narrowed his five schools down to Ohio State, Cal, Iowa, TCU and Boise State.
According to the Ohio State football Web site, O'Connor is believed to be the first football recruit from Colorado to sign a letter of intent with Ohio State since Chris Sanders, from Denver's Montbello High School, did in 1990.
O'Connor said he's looking forward to playing for Meyer, whom he said stood out over all the other coaches who recruited him.
“He's a genuine person,” said O'Connor, who plans to major in criminology at Ohio State. “He doesn't talk to me like I'm just another piece of meat. He talks to me like a human being, and he talks to me like he cares about me and not just about what I can do on the football field. He's more intrigued by what I do off the football field and what type of person I am.”
O'Connor carries a mean streak on the football field, but just between the whistles. He mentors a fourth-grade student at Skyview Elementary School in Windsor and is the student body class president.
“I'm nasty on the field. I'm going to be competitive,” said O'Connor, who wore a scarlet and grey striped tie with an Ohio State logo to his signing party. “I'm going to do what I need to do, but after I do that I'll be your best friend. I'm trying to be the best guy that I can be. I don't know how I really turn it off and on. When the ball snaps, it just kind of goes.”
Windsor head football coach Chris Jones said he knows the type of football player and person that Windsor is sending to Ohio State.
“I know he's going to be successful because that desire is so tied to everything he does,” Jones said. “He makes sure that everything he does is about him being the best Joey O'Connor football player he could be.”
Hold him to his word.
The 6-foot-4, 295-pound O'Connor, who signed a national letter of intent to play for Ohio State University on Wednesday's national signing day, hasn't disappointed Windsor football fans since he stepped onto the field as a starting offensive lineman his freshman year all the way to becoming an All-American offensive tackle his senior year who helped lead the Wizards to the Class 3A state championship last December.
O'Connor, the son of Ann and Joe O'Connor, signed his letter of intent at 7:01 a.m. and Ann faxed the letter to Columbus, Ohio, an hour later when she got to work at the University of Northern Colorado.
The hulking Windsor senior greeted every person who walked through the cafeteria door with a hand shake or a hug before the signing ceremony.
“I won't disappoint you. I will work hard,” O'Connor said to more than 150 people who helped him celebrate his special day. “I'll do everything I can to represent Windsor well.”
O'Connor, a four-star (out of 5) recruit and Under Armour All-American, is part of Ohio State coach Urban Meyer's first recruiting class. Rivals.com ranked the class as the fourth best in the country, while ESPNU ranked it as the No. 6 best class in the nation. A one-year bowl ban and probation, the resignation of head coach Jim Tressel in 2011 and the loss of scholarships imposed by the NCAA on the Ohio State football program when players sold memorabilia in exchange for cash and tattoos didn't seem to matter to recruits once Meyer was hired as head coach on Nov. 28.
“I'm going to go in trying to play at center. I feel like I have the leadership and the ability to play center,” said O'Connor, who will turn 18 on Wednesday. “If not, then I'll move to guard.”
O'Connor, ranked as the 102nd best player in the country by Rivals.com and No. 104 in the ESPNU 150, is the first Windsor lineman to receive a Division I football scholarship since Broc Finlayson signed with Colorado State University in 1997. O'Connor verbally committed to Penn State in June 2011, but decommitted from the university on Nov. 10 following the child sex-abuse scandal involving former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky and the firing of head football coach Joe Paterno. He narrowed his five schools down to Ohio State, Cal, Iowa, TCU and Boise State.
According to the Ohio State football Web site, O'Connor is believed to be the first football recruit from Colorado to sign a letter of intent with Ohio State since Chris Sanders, from Denver's Montbello High School, did in 1990.
O'Connor said he's looking forward to playing for Meyer, whom he said stood out over all the other coaches who recruited him.
“He's a genuine person,” said O'Connor, who plans to major in criminology at Ohio State. “He doesn't talk to me like I'm just another piece of meat. He talks to me like a human being, and he talks to me like he cares about me and not just about what I can do on the football field. He's more intrigued by what I do off the football field and what type of person I am.”
O'Connor carries a mean streak on the football field, but just between the whistles. He mentors a fourth-grade student at Skyview Elementary School in Windsor and is the student body class president.
“I'm nasty on the field. I'm going to be competitive,” said O'Connor, who wore a scarlet and grey striped tie with an Ohio State logo to his signing party. “I'm going to do what I need to do, but after I do that I'll be your best friend. I'm trying to be the best guy that I can be. I don't know how I really turn it off and on. When the ball snaps, it just kind of goes.”
Windsor head football coach Chris Jones said he knows the type of football player and person that Windsor is sending to Ohio State.
“I know he's going to be successful because that desire is so tied to everything he does,” Jones said. “He makes sure that everything he does is about him being the best Joey O'Connor football player he could be.”
