During his high school career, Edward Nathan George Jr. was anything but a top college prospect. Despite being a good student and attending prep school at Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia, George went virtually unnoticed.
“The way we came across him was really by accident,” coach Bill Conley said. Conley was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Ohio State for 17 years.
During George’s senior year at Fork Union, a student trainer asked Conley if he was recruiting George. Conley recalls, “I didn’t know of any seniors at Fork Union. Automatically I thought it was just a buddy of this guy and it wasn’t going to be anything serious.”
Conley’s assumption that George didn’t possess Big Ten talent was reaffirmed when he discovered only the University of Louisville was actively recruiting the Philadelphia native.
But his perspective on George soon changed.
“His [high school] coach sent film and the next week when I watched the film I was like ‘My God this kid is phenomenal,'” Conley said. George’s 6-foot-3-inch frame, along with his breakaway speed and play-making ability, enamored Conley, who immediately started recruiting the running back.
“So I start calling him every week. And it’s funny because all of September and October it’s just us and Louisville calling him,” Conley explained. “Then everyone heard we were recruiting him and they all started recruiting him.”
The most prominent schools in the Midwest — including Notre Dame, Penn State and Michigan — began a hot pursuit of George. And he was being recruited for more than just running back. Penn State coach Joe Paterno recruited George as a linebacker, an honor to be recruited to play the position at the school that is known as Linebacker U.
“Here’s the thing about Eddie. He was such a big, physical kid. He looked like he could play — if not running back, tight end, defensive end, or linebacker,” Conley said.
With George’s recruitment process heating up, the now highly touted prospect scheduled college visits each weekend in December. He scheduled a visit with Louisville the first weekend, followed by OSU the second weekend and Notre Dame and Penn State the final two weeks. George, however, canceled his remaining visits after visiting OSU. Following his visit to Columbus, the soon-to-be star committed to John Cooper and the Buckeyes.
At the time, not even the Buckeyes knew which position would best suit their new recruit.
Being the physical specimen he was, George had the physical tools to play multiple positions on the field.
“Our philosophy was you can try any position you want and the coaches will put you where you need to be. And if you want to try running back you can,” Conley said. “He ended up starting at fullback and then moving to tailback.”
Tailback immediately proved the best fit for George, as he made his presence felt in the third game of his freshman season.
The Buckeyes (2-0) were making their first road trip of the season, to play Syracuse in a rematch of the previous year’s bowl game.
“They lost to Syracuse in what is now the Outback Bowl the year before. And they were playing them again within nine months,” said Jack Park, author of the Official Ohio State Football Encyclopedia.
Behind an outstanding performance by George, which included three rushing touchdowns, the Buckeyes defeated the heavily favored Orangemen.
“Eddie kind of broke in, in that game,” Park said. “Fans became much more familiar with him there.”
But the game against Syracuse would prove to be one of the only highlights of George’s freshman season. Two weeks later in a game against Illinois, George fumbled on the Illini 4-yard line.
“I remember he fumbled right there near the goal line, and the Illinois player picked it up and ran 96 yards for a touchdown,” Park said. But for George the nightmare wasn’t over.
In the fourth quarter George again fumbled, this time on the Illini one-yard line. Illinois constructed a game-winning drive on the ensuing possession and defeated the Buckeyes 18-16.
Following the loss, George spent the rest of the season and all of his sophomore campaign backing up Raymont Harris. But the relentless George wasn’t demoralized, he was motivated.
“Yeah he had a couple fumbles against Illinois, but this is a great part of the whole story. He worked so incredibly hard so that would never happen again,” Conley said.
George’s work ethic became legendary and caught the attention of coach John Cooper, who has been quoted as saying, “I’ve been coaching 33 years and this young man has the best work ethic of any football player I’ve been around.”
Conley echoed the sentiment, describing George as having a “super work ethic” and comparing him to the likes of Chris Spielman and Mike Vrabel.
“They all fall in that same category,” Conley said. “Guys who practice hard every practice and work hard in the offseason — they give 100 percent all the time.”
George’s incredible work ethic paid dividends in the 1995 season. The running back’s storied senior season came to a climax in November against Illinois — the same team he fumbled twice against just three years earlier.
Park was in attendance for the frigid matchup.
“It was one of the coldest, windiest days I’ve ever been in the stadium,” Park said. “But in those weather conditions, this guy ran like a rabbit.”
All afternoon George shed tacklers and piled up huge chunks of yardage. Park recalled one of George’s carries, early in the second half, where he dashed for a 60-plus-yard touchdown into the south end zone. For George, it was one of his three total touchdowns on the day, and he finished with a school-record 314 rushing yards.
“What’s great is against that same Illinois team, the next time [they came to Columbus] he rushed for more than 300 yards,” Conley said.
It was one of three games on the season in which George eclipsed the 200-yard rushing mark. In all, he totaled 1,927 yards on the season — another OSU record — and 24 touchdowns.
“I doubt if there’s ever been an Ohio State back that has had a better single season than George in 1995,” Park said. He compared George’s ‘95 campaign to Archie Griffin’s two best years and Howard “Hopalong” Cassidy’s 1954 season.
By season’s end, the Buckeye running back was raking in accolades. He was the recipient of the Jim Brown, Doak Walker, Maxwell and Walter Camp Awards. But the most prestigious award was yet to come. George would join Griffin and Cassidy as Heisman Trophy award winners.
Following the 1995 season George won the closest vote in Heisman history to become the fifth Buckeye to win the award.
“We were really honored,” Conley said of George winning the Heisman. “The entire coaching staff got to attend the dinner, which is held Monday after the presentation in New York City. It was a special moment for everybody.”
On his return trip, George decided to bring the trophy aboard the plane. However, airport security required George to send the bronze award through an X-ray machine.
“They made him put the [trophy] through the machine and it ended up bending the fingers on the right hand,” Conley explained. Fortunately for George, he received a new, unscathed award. His mishap actually influenced Troy Smith to have his trophy shipped home, when he won the Heisman in 2006.
To this day, an overwhelming majority of Buckeye fans remember George for his epic senior season. And for his professional career in which he rushed for more than 10,000 yards. But Conley remembers the all-time great for a different reason.
“He’s really the story of a kid who was a diamond in the rough,” Conley said. “I guess the lesson learned is you can’t leave any stone unturned in recruiting because every once in a while there’s an Eddie George out there.”
