More than 2,000 attendees fill the space beside Curl Market to watch Caleb Downs, Sonny Styles and more testify about their faith. Credit: Sandra Fu | Managing Photo Editor
Gee Scott Jr.’s face was filled with emotion as he stood on top of the small stage, speaking into a microphone.
Wearing a black shirt emblazoned with “Jesus Won” across the front, Scott joined current Buckeyes Caleb Downs, Sonny Styles, Luke Montgomery, Ethan Onianwa and Carson Hinzman before a crowd of 2,000 people.
He asked if anybody in the sea of onlookers dared to come up and profess their faith and get baptized. After a brief moment of stillness, a young woman stood above the seated crowd and made her way up to the stage.
“Hallelujah,” Scott said.
For the second straight year, members of the Ohio State football team collaborated with nearly 20 student organizations to host the “Fall Kickoff: An Invitation to Jesus” on College Green Park in the courtyard by Curl Market to spread the Christian gospel from 6 to 9 p.m. The gathering blended worship, testimony and baptism to highlight the role of faith within the Buckeye program and the wider university community.
The event was first held Aug. 25, 2024, when Scott, TreyVeon Henderson, JT Tuimoloau, Emeka Egbuka and Kamryn Babb gathered before more than 1,000 followers of Christ. Based on registrations, the number of attendees was nearly double this year.
“I think it’s a testimony of the Lord’s heart for people,” said Babb, who joined his fellow Buckeyes on the stage, “It’s not about one person or a specific group of people, it’s about telling people about the gospel.”
The event started at 6 p.m. with a live band playing worship music while the crowd sang, held hands and raised their palms in the air. Scott and his teammates took to the stage an hour later to share their testimonies with the gathered crowd and discussed how faith has affected their lives on and off the field.
When they finished speaking, a handful of members from the crowd made their way behind the stage to tubs of water where they were baptized before a cheering crowd.
“In the moment I felt called to go up and get baptized,” said Tyler Schoeff, a primary education major. “It was kind of nerve-racking, but you just have to be courageous and listen to God.”
While the prominence of the players speaking was not lost on the crowd, Downs and his teammates stressed that they were not there as athletes; they were there to spread their message of faith and belief.
“No play we make on the field – no touchdown, no interception can compare to the kingdom of God,” Downs said.
Alanna Stevenson, a transfer student in communication, said she couldn’t have felt more connected to those players the moment they shared their faith with the crowd.
”It doesn’t matter if they’re under the big lights or not; they’re still going to praise Jesus’ name without any type of embarrassment or any insecurity,” she said. “It really just shows that they are just as normal as us. They’re just as much of a follower of Christ as we are.”
Many of the players who spoke said faith was a key reason they chose to come to Ohio State in their recruitment, citing last year’s gathering as an example of the strong roots that Christianity holds within the program.
Babb said he hopes to see the event become a tradition within the program.
“To see it going from generation to generation and class to class, it’s really cool to see,” he said.
