Ohio State senior defensive end Jonathon Cooper (18) faces off against Michigan redshirt senior offensive lineman Jon Runyan (75) during the second half of the game at Michigan Stadium Nov. 30. Ohio State won 56-27. Credit: Amal Saeed | Former Photo Editor
Jonathon Cooper and Justin Hilliard were not supposed to be here.
The pair of graduate seniors have both had their careers derailed and extended by injuries — extensions that placed them in the midst of a pandemic that led the Big Ten to cancel the fall football season. Now, with the unknown of a spring season looming, the conclusion to each player’s college career is shrouded with uncertainty.
“It was an awful meeting, but the message was that in life, things get taken from you and this kinda got taken from us right now,” head coach Ryan Day said Aug. 12 on relaying the Big Ten’s decision to the team. “Although it’s hard, they’ll draw back upon this as a way to kinda use this as a reference point when things go bad in their life. We learn a lot of life lessons in football, and we have to learn how to work through this.”
This marks the second time Cooper has entered a preseason thinking it would be his last. In 2019, the then-senior defensive end was sidelined with an undisclosed ankle injury during camp.
The captain was eventually able to work his way back on the field but elected to redshirt — a decision that limited Cooper to play in only four games to remain eligible for the 2020 season.
The NCAA’s four-game redshirt rule forced Cooper, who had one game left on his redshirt, to choose between playing against Michigan or in the postseason. While he ultimately landed on playing in his fourth installment of The Game, the decision was not easy.
“Those were long emotional conversations and then to make the decision to come back, put in an unbelievable offseason and this was his shot because he was in really good shape going into preseason, the one where he got that ankle,” Day said Aug. 12 in a Zoom call with media members.
Despite the efforts to give Cooper another chance at finishing his Ohio State career, COVID-19 concerns have altered the plans of the fifth-year player.
“This is the second time, two years in a row, that my season has been somewhat taken away from me without my control, and that’s a lot. It sucks,” Cooper said Aug. 12 on “SportsCenter” on ESPN.
Describing the conversation with the team as one of the hardest conversations he has ever had, Day leaned into a message of resilience.
To Cooper specifically, Day recognized how disappointing the decision was for the player while also reassuring him that brighter days were ahead.
“I told him ‘I can’t explain why this is happening to you.’ I shared some of my life experiences with him,” Day said Aug. 12 in a Zoom call with media members. “Life can take you to your knees. This sport can take you to your knees, and it has to me, but it’ll make him stronger in the end.”
Ohio State senior linebacker Justin Hilliard (47) assists junior cornerback Jeff Okudah (1) in tackling Wisconsin junior wide receiver Quintez Cephus (87) during the first half of the game on Oct. 26. Ohio State won 38-7. Credit: Amal Saeed | Former Photo Editor
Like Cooper, Hilliard has also had bouts with injuries that extended his career at Ohio State. The sixth-year senior linebacker was a five-star recruit in the 2015 recruiting class.
The beginning of Hilliard’s career was marked by separate biceps injuries which kept him off the field for much of his first two seasons.
The injury bug followed the Ohio native into 2019, as he had his spring cut short due to an achilles injury.
Despite the setbacks, Hilliard arrived in 2020 as one of the team’s seven football captains.
“Sometimes I really have to sit back and reflect on some of the hurtles I’ve had to overcome over the years,” Hilliard said in an Aug. 4 conference call with media members. “But honestly, I think a lot of people have a view of me as I’m just here feeling sorry for myself for all the terrible things that have happened to me, but honestly these past five or however long — eight years — I’ve been here have been awesome for me. I’ve had the time of my life.”
Hilliard will be forced to lead a team through a fall that will see no competitive games played by the Buckeyes. Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith and Day have set their sights on putting together a spring season for the players to work toward.
“We are 100 percent focused on supporting the health and safety and academic success of our student-athletes and on working with the Big Ten to develop a spring plan for our sports as expeditiously as possible,” Smith said in an Aug. 12 statement.
To offer more flexibility to student-athletes, the NCAA announced Friday a free year of eligibility to fall sports athletes, regardless if they play in the fall or spring.
Now the two captains, who have combined to play nearly 80 football games at Ohio State, do not know when or if they will don the scarlet and gray again.
