PASADENA, Calif. – Mike Weber stood alongside his Ohio State’s teammates to sing “Carmen Ohio” with a backward-turned Cotton Bowl championship hat last year. His left arm around Liam McCullough on the farthest right edge of the team, he didn’t belt out a single word of the song while looking into the stands. He had tears falling down his cheeks.
Less than a half hour later, with red eyes and a sullen face, Weber sat in his locker with his pads still on and said he didn’t know what was coming next. He could leave for the NFL draft, but he had accrued just 626 rushing yards during an injury plagued redshirt sophomore campaign that left him disappointed and unsettled.