Imagine this nightmare scenario for Steelers fans. It’s 1999, and a senior at Findlay High School in Ohio named Ben Roethlisberger is scheduled to make his college commitment announcement. He sits down at a table with his parents and high school coach and says the following: “I’ve decided to continue my academic and athletic career at The Ohio State University…as a TIGHT END.”
The thought of that is enough to wake Steeler Nation up from its collective slumber in a cold sweat. No #7, no Super Bowl heroics, no franchise QB for almost two decades.
If the Buckeyes’ brain trust in Columbus had its way, this nightmare could have been a reality.
Roethlisberger appeared on the Alpha 5 Method podcast with former Steelers teammate Bruce Gradkowski earlier this week and shared this interesting nugget: “Some teams like Ohio State…it was rumored that they wanted me to come play tight end because I had the size and I had played receiver before. They thought that would be a better fit for me.”
Indeed, Roethlisberger spent most of his high school career catching passes, not throwing them. It turns out that if your dad is the head coach, you get to play QB, and the 6-5, future NFL Hall of Famer gets stuck playing receiver. Roethlisberger didn’t get his chance under center until his senior season.
Because he didn’t play QB until his senior season, Roethlisberger didn’t receive much interest from colleges early on. One of the first schools to show interest in him was the University of Miami (Ohio) and head coach Terry Hoeppner. It wasn’t until the gunslinger started to light up scoreboards that the big boys came calling.
“Towards the end of the season, once you start racking up these wins and you’re doing all these things, then you start getting like the SECs,” Roethlisberger told Gradkowski. “I mean, by the end of it, I, I can’t say that every school in the country [was interested], but there was all the Big Tens, a lot of SECs, ACCs, all the MACs were at least interested to a certain degree.”
One would have to imagine that a young boy growing up in Ohio had dreams of one day suiting up in the scarlet and gray of Ohio State, one of the biggest football powerhouses in the country. But the Buckeyes were set at QB with Craig Krenzel, who would lead Ohio State to a national championship in 2002, its first consensus one since 1968. But even getting the chance to play tight end in your home state in front of 100,000 fans had to be enticing.
And a tall, sturdy athlete who could run and catch at the tight end position had to appeal to Ohio State. And it’s not like the Buckeyes would have been the first to almost ruin a future NFL Hall of Fame quarterback by recruiting them for a different position. Joe Paterno at Penn State wanted four-time Super Bowl quarterback Jim Kelly to play linebacker for the Nittany Lions.
Despite the growing interest from the blue-chip programs, Roethlisberger’s heart kept drawing him back to the school and, more importantly, the man who showed belief in him first: Hoeppner and the Miami RedHawks.
“I am just a loyal person and I think because Coach Hoeppner at Miami was one of the first schools to come get me, to come believe in me. I loved him. I mean, him as a person, he was unbelievable,” Roethlisberger said. “But [he] believed in me from the get-go and was one of the first scholarship offers. And that meant a lot to me.”
So, despite the mounting options and the growing list of schools to officially visit during the recruiting process, Roethlisberger made a decision despite his father’s advice.
“I remember going there on my official recruiting visit,” Roethlisberger recalled, “and my dad saying, ‘Ben, whatever you do when you go in his office, don’t commit now. Let’s go home and talk about it.’ I went in, talked to Coach Hoepp and came out. I was like, ‘Dad, I just committed.’”
I don’t think Dad regrets his impetuous son’s decision.
Roethlisberger would redshirt his freshman year and then go on to be named MAC Freshman of the Year, MAC Offensive Player of the Year, and MAC Most Valuable Player. On the way to that hat trick, he broke numerous records. He later had his number retired and was inducted into the Miami Hall of Fame. He was drafted in the first round by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2004 and the rest, they say, is history.
Roethlisberger would be named the 2004 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, win his first of two Super Bowls at age 23, be selected to six Pro Bowls, throw for over 64,000 yards, and will be handed a gold jacket, almost certainly as a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Not a bad career for a would-be tight end out of Findlay, Ohio.
His one regret? That the man who believed in him first didn’t get to see an incredible football story play to its end. Hoeppner passed away in 2007 after battling brain cancer. He only got to see his star QB win one Super Bowl. Sadly, he didn’t get to see the rest of Roethlisberger’s Hall of Fame career play out.
“One of my biggest regrets in life is that he is not here still to enjoy all the stuff that I got to accomplish,” Roethlisberger said. “And because of him, I’m still very close to his wife, Jane, and the family. I just trusted the guy. He ended up becoming like a second father to [me]. I think that speaks volumes for who he was as a person.”
On behalf of Steelers fans all around the world, we thank you, Coach Hoeppner, for seeing greatness in our beloved No. 7. Who knows? He may have turned out to be a heck of a tight end. But we’re grateful for our rightful heir to Terry Bradshaw, the two Lombardi Trophies, and the two decades of memories.
