Ohio State Player Profile: Jamie Wood

The Comeback Kid(Photo Credit: 247sports.com) It’s impossible not to like Jamie Wood. He’s the underdog, the comeback kid and an Ohio State fan since his earliest days. When he made his lifelong dream of playing at OSU a reality by committing to the good guys, he said, “I’ve loved the Buckeyes since the day I was born, since I knew what football was. So to be able to have this opportunity, to be able to decide whether to be a Buckeye or not, why would you pass that up?” I absolutely would not, and neither did he. Wood is a true Buckeye out of Pickerington Central, and was a highly touted four-star recruit in 2009 ranked as high as the fourth best safety in the country by one recruiting service. He led his Tigers to three consecutive conference crowns in his stay at Central while excelling at safety and wide receiver and was invited to play in the recruit holy land in San Antonio at the U.S. Army All-American Game. A true athlete, Wood had all the intangibles and skill OSU could want. All of this seemed to add up to a homerun when the Buckeyes signed him over the likes of Penn State and Stanford. His stay by the Olentangy, however, has been a bit more tumultuous and the injury bug has bitten him all too often. He has had two major shoulder surgeries in his time with the Silver Bullets, relegating him to rehab time and special teams most of his career. Despite these shoulder problems, he has been able to garner a solid reputation on that special teams unit. He has played in a total of 30 games for OSU, 13 a piece in 2010 and 2011 along with 4 last season, contributing 17 tackles along the way. He was considered to be a trustworthy member of those struggling units last season before his injury took him out for the remainder of his redshirt-Junior year. This year he is taking a shot at redemption. While both Wood and OSU released statements this past year that he was likely done playing football because of his shoulder problems, he has decided to give it another shot. It is unclear what his role will be, but with such a crowded and talented backfield the Buckeye coaches may ask him to fill in on special teams again. Given his reliability when on the field on those units, that would be very soothing news to Buckeye fans and very welcome news to Wood himself I’m sure. From a big-time recruit, to special teams star, to the all to early end of his career and now back in the game he loves, it’s impossible not to root for this kid. Hopefully he gets the shot he deserves and is playing in front on 105,000+ grateful fans during his Senior season in 2013. Everyone loves a comeback story and everyone loves to root for the underdog. But only a few can actually pull it off. In the case of Ohio State defensive back Jamie Wood, let’s hope for all the above.