Ohio State senior offensive lineman Josh Kerr was an all-state three-year starter at Strongsville High School in Strongsville. He also participated in the 2004 Big 33 game, an annual game between the best high school seniors from Ohio and Pennsylvania, but Ohio State did not recruit him coming out of high school.

However, Larry Coker and the University of Miami (FL) did. Coker was Miami’s coach from 2001-06. Graduating high school in 2004, Kerr accepted a scholarship offer to play football with the Hurricanes, but didn’t enroll right away.

He was gray-shirted by Miami, meaning he would enroll at the university one semester late. Gray-shirting is a way for universities who gave out too many scholarships to still get all the players that committed to them.

When the time came for Kerr to leave the farmlands of Ohio for the palm trees and beaches of Florida, he received an unexpected phone call.

With his bags packed and a flight to Miami booked, Kerr was told that he no longer had a scholarship at Miami. The Hurricanes reneged on their scholarship offer and left Kerr baffled.

“I didn’t believe it at first,” Kerr said. “When I talked to Coker, all he had to say was ‘Josh, I’m sorry, but we can’t take you anymore.’ That’s it. I was upset and didn’t understand. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do.”

At the time, Kerr’s older brother John was a linebacker for OSU. John Kerr played for the Buckeyes from 2003-06.

Kerr said the OSU coaching staff heard about the situation and went to John to figure out what exactly was going on.

“John told them that I was no longer going to Miami, and was back on the open market and looking for a place to play,” Kerr said.

A few days after talking to John, Kerr said the coaching staff called him and said that they wanted him to play football at OSU.

Finally having a school that actually wanted him, Kerr faced another setback — the main campus at Ohio State did not admit him and he was forced to enroll at the Newark branch.

“For whatever reason, my name was not put near the top of the admissions list like most athletes are,” Kerr said.

He said he attended the Newark campus for three quarters and as a result, missed the 2005 season.

By the time Kerr finally saw the Buckeyes’ practice field in April 2006, it had been more than two years since his last high school game. He graduated in 2004, but played his last game in November 2003.

“I forgot how to play,” he said. “I had to re-teach myself everything from getting into my stance, to coming off the ball and going to hit somebody.”

Four-and-a-half years later, as a fifth-year senior, the OSU lineman is thankful for the opportunity to play at OSU.

“Not going to Miami was a blessing in disguise,” he said. “I’ve been to two national title games and a Rose Bowl. I’m walking away with two degrees and two minors. It’s just been awesome.”

Kerr will have degrees in sports management and consumer sciences.

Unlike his high school days, he has not played much at OSU, only appearing in 21 games, but that hasn’t demoralized him.

“Everyone wants to play,” Kerr said. “If you don’t, you shouldn’t come here. You can only play 22 guys at one time, but everyone has a role on the team and if mine’s to cheer on my guys, that’s what I’ll do.”

At 25, Kerr said he is often jokingly called the “old man” of the offensive line. On the entire team, only Devin Barclay, 27, is older than Kerr.

After Tressel’s 100th victory, Kerr said that some of the players in the locker room were joking that it must be his 100th victory too; he has been at OSU for so long. He also said that when watching old game film, everyone will ask ‘Hey Josh, what was that game like?’ again joking about his age.

Although he admitted that beating Miami this season was a great feeling, he said that his favorite game while at OSU was the 2006 Michigan game that featured No. 1 OSU versus No. 2 Michigan.

“It was the best game I’ve ever been at,” he said. “From the hype that surrounded the game to the people going nuts and rushing the field when we won, the whole day was awesome.”