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"I'm not going to play competitively anymore," Eberly said. "Maybe I'll teach a little bit, but definitely, I will still follow the guys' results and the team's results."
The Buckeye's will play their final home game this weekend in the NCAA tournament against Cleveland State, advancing to play the winner of East Tennessee State/Notre Dame with a victory. Winning is crucial to continue play in the tournament as the team has not lost a home match in Eberly's four years as a Buckeye.
"Knock on wood; we've got two more left, but I feel confident in that," Eberly said. "I had to stop and think about that, but that's unbelievable. It calms us a lot and I'm really happy the way it worked out."
Eberly, from Lake Forest, Ill., chose OSU even though the Fighting Illini won the National Championship during his recruiting year.
"I wasn't really going to be given an opportunity to play there," Eberly said. "I wanted to stay in the Big Ten. This is a good team and good group of guys and I knew I would get a fair shot to play. So, that's why I chose it. It kind of worked better."
Eberly thought about going to other schools, but is happy he chose OSU.
"Ohio State really jumped out because of the coaches and the guys and the prestige, but looking back at it, Illinois would've been nice, but this has worked out better," he said. "I was also looking at Wake Forest, but it was a much different setup, but I couldn't be happier with Ohio State."
Coach Ty Tucker saw something special in Eberly during recruiting.
"He was a gifted athlete for a tennis player," Tucker said. "He plays a lot longer than 6-foot. He's 6-foot-tall, but he plays like 6-5. He loved to compete and I thought it would be a good fit for him."
Eberly owns a record of 74-27 in single matches and 115-31 in doubles matches, placing him third all-time in doubles with three wins behind Ross Wilson.
"It's definitely a great accomplishment and I'm very glad about that," Eberly said of being in the top-three. "My game improved, which is something I'm excited about. I want to thank the coaches for that. They did a great job with me, so I'm really happy about that."
Players including sophomore Justin Kronauge, realize the effort he puts on the court.
"He's done a great job for the team," Kronauge said. "He's been a great leader this year both on and off the court."
Kronauge learned a lot from Eberly through being his doubles partner.
"He has a lot of experience," Kronauge said. "He's a great doubles player. It's been a good experience for me."
The team and fans helped cheer Eberly to victory during his final regular season home match.
"That was really special," Eberly said. "I was (happy) with the way that ended. (It) would have been disheartening if I lost, but I pulled it out against a really good player and completed the 7-0 sweep and that was extremely nice beating Michigan, a huge rivalry. (Winning) my last regular season match... definitely stuck out in my mind."
Eberly and senior Dominic Ozanne are the only two seniors on the team, compiling a 110-14 record, the best record for a senior group in Buckeye men's tennis history.
"It's been special from day one," Eberly said. "We've had a lot of good players. I had a lot of good players around me and myself in a lot of matches."
As one of two seniors, the team looks to Eberly when they are on the court.
"In the past years, we had two or three other seniors," Eberly said. "Dom (Ozanne), Bryan (Koniecko) and Steve (Moneke) have been great helping out. It's been a great team effort."
Tucker will miss Eberly.
"It's tough to replace any senior who has won as many matches as Drew Eberly has," Tucker said.
Will Toman can be reached at toman.7@osu.edu.
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