He’s funny, he’s outgoing, he’s a play maker, and he is not afraid to say anything that comes to mind. He is Darron Lee. The starting Linebacker for Ohio State has made plenty of noise on the field, but what may be even more interesting about him is what he did before he even played a down for the Scarlet and Grey. Darron Lee, who grew up 20 miles away from campus in New Albany, has ever only wanted to attend The Ohio State University.
High School:
Being from New Albany, he attended New Albany High School for his 4 years before Ohio State. At New Albany, he was  a 3 star recruit who played Quarterback, Receiver, and Safety, and led his team to the State Championship his senior year, only to be beat by 1 point. He was recruited by some very good collegiate programs like Duke, Cincinnati, Marshall, and Purdue, but was overlooked by a 5 star chaser like Ohio State. He went to camp after camp, being rejected time and time again. The one person who saw the potential in Lee was the line backers coach Luke Fickell. He kept telling Urban Meyer to take a shot on Darron Lee, who he saw future in and when Meyer finally agreed and offered him the scholarship, he accepted on the same day. Lee would then make it his personal mission to prove Fickell right.
Freshman Year:
After being behind Ryan Shazier his true freshman year, he played only 2 games of special teams before an injury forced him to medical red shirt. He made his presence known quickly replacing Shazier at Linebacker the next year by returning a 61 yard fumble recovery in the opener against Navy, in a game where the offense was struggling and the score was close. He then went on to record 81 tackles in the 15 games they played, with 7.5 tackles and 16.5 tackles for loss. The true breakout performance he had were the 3 final games of the year in the postseason, recording 22 tackles and 2 sacks, and was the defensive MVP of the run to the championship for Ohio State. Lee, along with Tyvis Powell, made their names nationally known by their performance on the field, and antics off of it.
Current Season:
Even after his incredible first season and his MVP performance, Lee was left off the 51 player Butkus award preseason watch list. To add a little more fuel to the fire, his fellow linebacker teammates Joshua Perry and Raekwon McMillan were on the list. So far this year he has 12 tackles and 2.5 sacks in 3 games and, in their game 2 days against Northern Illinois, he had the game changing interception for a touchdown that just might have saved Ohio State from the upset of the year. If I have learned anything from Darron Lee, it is that whenever this team needs a play, he is always right there to step up. After all the snubs he gets and how overlooked he constantly is, I am very excited to see what he has in store next. One thing is for sure, he loves the attention.
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