Ohio State Cheerleader to walk on to the Buckeyes football team.

Has anyone ever hit me? No!

The Legendary Springfield News and Sun is reporting that current Ohio State Cheerleader Josh Springer has been getting serious interest from the Ohio State Head Coach Jim Tressell because he is said to run a 4.47 40 yard dash.

The Ohio State football team has come under a lot of pressure in recent years with all of their bowl losses. It has been said by may that the team lacks speed and that when they come across perceived faster teams from the SEC Conference, that they can not keep up.

Prior to the NFL Combine, everyone was talking about Ohio State Cornerback Malcolm Jenkins being picked in the first round, possibly in the Top Ten. When he was through with his forty yard dash at the Combine, NFL scouts were pretty sure that he was too slow to even be able to play the position in the pro's.

So in response to all of the criticism that he is getting about having a slow team, Tressell is going out and recruiting speed off of his cheerleader squad. Yea, that should work.

Here's the story, Springfield News:

How bizarre and ironic, then, that this 5-foot-11, 185-pound OSU cheerleading captain might be playing for Tressel after surviving a walk-on tryout last month despite never playing a down of football in high school. He wants to be a receiver.

"He's fairly athletic," Matt Springer, a college athlete in the early-to-mid 1970s, said of his son, who opened eyes by running a 40-yard dash in 4.47 seconds. "But it's still pretty surprising."

Especially so considering Josh's primary athletic endeavors in college have involved hoisting and flinging 100-pound females — fine work if you can find it, but nothing that prepares one for the rigors of the gridiron.

"Has anyone ever hit me? No," Josh said. "I'm assuming that's one of the things I'm going to have to get used to."

"You have to admire him for being willing to get out and compete with guys who have played football," OSU assistant recruiting coordinator Greg Gillum said. "It's exciting for us to see someone who has the desire just to see if he can do it."

Josh says he thought about trying out earlier for football, but he had made a commitment to cheerleading. When he finally decided the time was right, he consulted a nutritionist and a trainer and spent hours at his old high school catching footballs launched by a machine.

"I figured I would at least try," he said. "I set expectations for myself. I guess my role right now is to try to get into the program and make the team better."

In Tressel's defense (he is a great recruiter), this cheerleader will never make the team. But it's a cute story, and I couldn't resist an oppurtunity to give a dig into slOhio State. Nudge it out.



Photos and story courtesy of Busted Coverage