Ohio State Football: WWE Tag Team Prime Time Players Visit Urban Meyer
By Kyle Kensing
Bless you, Twitter. Among the daily reminders of the social networking platform’s value is the below image of WWE wrestlers Titus O’Neil and Darren Young visiting the Ohio State football facilities.
Prime Time Players Visit Ohio State Football
O’Neil — real name Thaddeus Bullard — was a prep Parade All-American and defensive end for the Florida Gators from 1997 to 2000. O’Neil played under current South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Steve Spurrier, but is now connected to the Ohio State Buckeyes through the extended Gator family via Urban Meyer.
O’Neil traded in his orange-and-blue for the hot pink of his tag team “Prime Time Players,” with Young, who also had a brief college football career for the now-defunct Fairleigh Dickinson program.
College football has a long and rich connection with professional wrestling. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is perhaps the most famous crossover, having starred for the excellent Miami Hurricanes teams of the early 1990s.
Others like Colorado Buffaloes lineman Leon White (Vader), Oklahoma Sooners and Florida State Seminoles All-Americans “Dr. Death” Steve Williams and Ron Simmons have made the transition. Lawrence Taylor headlined Wrestlemania XI in 1995.
At Ohio State, former Buckeye standout James Laurinaitis employed his own version of his father, Road Warrior Animal’s, Doomsday Device finishing move against opposing ball carriers in the Big Ten.
With the Buckeyes’ professional wrestling connections, perhaps we’ll see Meyer add some of the wrestling world’s panache to Ohio State’s 2013 season. Spiked shoulder pads? Sequined robes on their way out of the tunnel pre-game?