From left: Michael Duffy, ESPN analyst Mike Tirico, Logan Jones, Jake Johnson and Greg Greve pose before an OSU basketball game against Michigan on Feb. 11 at the Schottenstein Center. Credit: Courtesy of Jake Johnson

From left: Michael Duffy, ESPN analyst Mike Tirico, Logan Jones, Jake Johnson and Greg Greve pose before an OSU basketball game against Michigan on Feb. 11 at the Schottenstein Center.
Credit: Courtesy of Jake Johnson

Over the course of two years, Aaron Craft lived with a varying group of other guys in an off-campus apartment. To them, they were just living a normal college life. But through a weekly “Taco Tuesday” tradition and a simple Twitter handle, the group garnered widespread attention and came to be known as the “Craft roomies.”

As graduation approached, one roommate moved out, and then another, and then another. Eventually, Craft left, too, and signed with the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.

And then there was one.

Logan Jones, a fifth-year in finance and member of the men’s golf team, is the last Craft roomie standing in the original South Campus apartment. He’s not alone, though, because four new roommates have taken the others’ places.

“It’s definitely been an adjusting period because there’s four new faces,” Jones said. “It’s a little bit sad because not only did I have so much fun with those guys, but they’ve all sort of moved on so I don’t see them quite as much anymore.”

Everyone except Jones moved out of the apartment by July, to places like California and Michigan and some just to other parts of Columbus.

Ryan Cypret, a 2013 graduate in sports management and former member of the men’s baseball team, lived in the apartment for the first year before he moved to Kalamazoo, Mich., to become an assistant baseball coach at Western Michigan University. Although it’s only been a year since Cypret moved out, he said it’s seemed like much longer.

“It’s crazy — it seems like it was a while ago,” Cypret said. “I absolutely miss those guys.”

Even though he might not have a key to the apartment anymore, Cypret said his roommates gave him something he can always carry with him: a lesson on how to find a balance in life.

“We all found ways to have fun in life but also be mature — to notice the things in life that are important. We took academics serious, faith serious, sports serious,” Cypret said. “But at the same time, we found a way to have fun. That’s something I took away from them.”

And although they’re spread out across the country, the guys still try to make time for each other.

“We all still stay in touch,” said Jake Johnson, one of the former roommates and a 2011 graduate in architecture. “We’ll send each other group text messages back and forth and we Snapchat a lot.”

Johnson moved in last November and moved out in July.

So far, their track record of reunions has proved pretty decent. The roommates were reunited twice this summer when two of the guys got married, Craft being one of them.

From left: Roommates Logan Jones, Aaron Craft, Jake Johnson and Michael Duffy appear on WBNS-10TV in Columbus on Feb. 2014 to promote their 'Taco Tuesday' campaign made popular by their Twitter account, @CRAFTroomies. Credit: Courtesy of Jake Johnson

From left: Roommates Logan Jones, Aaron Craft, Jake Johnson and Michael Duffy appear on WBNS-10TV in Columbus on Feb. 2014 to promote their ‘Taco Tuesday’ campaign made popular by their Twitter account, @CRAFTroomies.
Credit: Courtesy of Jake Johnson

And before some of the roommates left Columbus for good, the guys also had another Taco Tuesday night — a Taco Tuesday that could potentially become one of their last. But that most recent Taco Tuesday, which transpired outside of their typical South Campus apartment setting, had a big twist: girls were allowed to come.

“The rule had always been ‘no girls allowed,’ but this year their wives had to be there, so girls got the invite. It was a breakthrough,” Johnson said.

And speaking of girls, it’s now technically a girl who’s become Craft’s roommate.

“His wife is now the Craft roomie,” Johnson said. “We joke it’s her job to handle the Twitter account, but I don’t think she wants anything to do with it.”

For now, the roommates aren’t sure what shape the Twitter account is going to take, but Johnson doesn’t think it’s going to go away completely.

“Maybe we’ll let it float on because we’re not as popular as Aaron,” Johnson said with a laugh. “We’re just not sure what to do with it yet.”

After all, it was partly the Twitter account that led to one of Jones’ favorite memories from the entire two years he lived there.

“The memory that will stick with me is the Taco Night when we had our couch on the floor of the Schottenstein. For us common folk — me and everyone else but Aaron — that was a crazy, crazy night because we were treated like kings,” Jones said. “It was kind of the peak of the account and of the time with my friends.”

Craft and his roommates hosted a Taco Tuesday last November, where 1,000 OSU students got the chance to ask the senior and his roommates questions, tour the basketball facilities at the Schottenstein Center and even sit at center court on the roommates’ couch and get their photo taken.

And for the last roommate standing in the original apartment, much of their friendship lives on.

“All the Craft roomies are still my friends despite my lack of time to reach out to them,” Jones said. “And the (Taco Tuesday) tradition is still active despite us all moving on.”