The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Bican twins find spot at OSU Brothers from Mayfield have made football team as walk-ons
It wasn’t that long ago two boys were scampering around in their yard in Mayfield pretending they were Ted Ginn, Jr., and Santonio Holmes.
Even at a young age, the boys donned Ohio State jerseys while watching the Buckeyes’ football team play on Saturdays.
Nothing, they thought, could be better than playing football for the Buckeyes — and that was their dream.
That dream has come to reality.
Because of their performance in a tryout on Jan. 17, Gage and Luke Bican — 2016 graduates of Mayfield — have been added to the Ohio State football roster as walk-ons.
After transferring from Division II Lake Erie College, where they were on football scholarship, the Bicans are paying their own way at Ohio State and looking to fulfill a dream they’ve had since they were young.
“The first time you step on the field and see those fans, the feeling is hard to describe,” said Gage, who played in Ohio State’s spring game this past April after he and his brother enrolled the previous semester. “It almost didn’t feel real at first. A few months earlier, I was sitting up in the stands watching the Buckeyes play, and here I am down on the field. It’s really something.”
When the Bican twins left Mayfield, they did so as highly recruited players for then-Lake Erie coach Mark McNellie — now an assistant coach at Lake Catholic.
Luke intercepted eight passes as a senior to lead The News-Herald coverage area. Gage was more of an offensive player, hauling in 714 yards worth of passes and scoring 10 touchdowns.
But as much as they appreciated the Lake Erie experience — said Gage, “Without Lake Erie, that first stepping stone, we would not be where we are today,” — the brothers wanted more.
So they transferred to Ohio State.
They had missed the walk-on tryouts held prior to Ohio State’s 2017 season.
But they quickly circled on their calendar the tryouts scheduled for Jan. 17 at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
They trained religiously on their own.
There was no contact whatsoever with the Ohio State staff that they were planning on trying out for the team.
“We would go and run on the fields outside the stadium for motivation,” Luke said.
“We had the stadium right there as we were training on what they call the RPAC fields. That visual of the stadium was motivation for us.”
The day of the tryouts was exhilarating, as the Bican brother joined around 30 others who were sharing the same dream of being a Buckeye.
The Bicans were more excited than nervous. After all, they trained six days a week for this opportunity. Most of their work dealt with speed training.
“We’ve come a long way in that respect,” Luke said. “We’re not there yet, but we’ve come a long way.”
Much to their surprise, the tryouts didn’t include a football, but rather a series of speed, strength and agility drills.
“Basically it was like a pro combine,” Gage said. “There was no football involved. It was weights and body skills. Benching, 40yard dash, 10-yard shuttle, 3-cone agility and stuff like that.”
OSU coaches, Luke said, dialed up the Bicans’ Hudl accounts to see their football skills.
About a week-and-a-half later, the brothers received an email telling them the next step was to come to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center for a physical, drug
test, blood test, etc. They made it. The work is just getting started.
What they went through to prepare for the tryout is nothing like what they are doing now, and what they will do in the future.
“Win the moment,” players are told.
“Every day, you’ve got to come in with an elite mindset,” Luke said. “You can’t take anything off or he’ll get on you.”
The man Luke referred to is OSU strength coach Micky Marotti.
“When things get hard, that’s when you’ve got to push your limit,” Luke continued. “That’s what they do here — they want to bring out your full potential.
“You train every day like it’s the fourth quarter, so when that situation comes, you’ve already been in it.”
The Bican brothers — Gage is 6-foot-1, 205 pounds, Luke is 6-1, 215 — are listed as wide receivers on the Ohio State roster.
They will enter fall camp as juniors in the class room, but will have three years of eligibility remaining.
The Bicans are going into this experience with their eyes wide open. They know Ohio State returns all of their receivers from last year’s team, including Parris Campbell, K.J. Hill, Terry McLaurin, Johnnie Dixon, Binjamen Victor and Austin Mack.
Four other receivers are on campus right now as recent high school graduates as part of the Buckeyes’ 2018 recruiting class.
But the Bicans are chasing a dream — and they’re living it.
So it’s full steam ahead for the longtime Ohio State fans.
The only difference now is they are part of the team.
“We’re not comfortable with just being on the team,” Luke said. “You want to be more than that in any way.”
Said his brother, “When you’re born and raised in Ohio, there’s nothing like being and Ohio State Buckeye.
“Our vision is to impact the Ohio State Buckeyes in any way possible. We’ll put our heart and soul into this team.”