The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Players receive walk-on offers from Ohio State
Mentor quarterback Tadas Tatarunas and Chardon offensive lineman Jared Barker have both been given the opportunity to be Ohio State Buckeyes by Coach Urban Meyer.
Both Tatarunas and Barker have been offered preferred walk-on status by the OSU coaching staff.
A preferred walk-on has been recruited by the school and has been offered a spot on the roster. The player isn’t offered any scholarship money as a freshman, but there is the possibility in the future of being put on scholarship.
Neither Barker nor Tatarunas has accepted Ohio State’s offer as of yet.
Tatarunas, a 6-4 senior quarterback, said a member of OSU’s player personnel staff was on hand for the scrimmage against Kenston, Berea-Midpark and Sandusky Perkins to view junior offensive lineman Ryan Jacoby and junior defensive lineman Noah Potter. The assistant messaged Tatarunas later in the day and offered him the preferred walk-on.
Tatarunas, announced the offer on Twitter, saying, “Excited to receive an offer to be a preferred walk-on from The Ohio State University!”
Tatarunas said he isn’t in a hurry to make a college choice.
Tatarunas threw for 2,289 yards and 23 touchdowns as a junior. His only scholarship offer as of now is from Robert Morris University.
“I want to play my senior year and see what happens,” he said. “I don’t want to think about what I need to do to get other offers.
I just want to enjoy my senior year and reach the ultimate goal of winning a state championship.”
Barker, a 6-foot7, 270-pound offensive tackle, missed a portion of last season with an injury. But he is rapidly moving up recruiting lists, and has an offer from Division II Notre Dame College, where his father — legendary Indians pitcher Len Barker — is the head baseball coach.
After Chardon’s scrimmage with Shaw on Aug. 16, Barker said he was surprised to get the walk-on offer from Ohio State because he has never had any contact with anyone from their coaching staff.
“Totally came out of nowhere,” Barker said, “But I’m really thankful for it.
“After our last two-aday, Coach Hewitt called me over, shook my hand and congratulated me. I was star-struck.”
“That’s kind of cool,” said Chardon coach Mitch Hewitt, who played for Meyer at Bowling Green. “One of the top teams in the country wants one of your lineman.”