Our Honor Defend

In this 17th installment of our 20 part Better Know A Buckeye series, I finally get around to the story of Garrett Goebel. Goebel, a state champion wrestler and defensive tackle prospect from Illinois, had a recruiting story that reads much like any other for a big time Midwestern prospect. Basically, as one of the top players in the Midwest, Garrett’s decision ultimately came down to Ohio State, Michigan or Notre Dame. In this feature, I detail the factors underlying how Ohio State was able to pull away from the pack. Afterwards, I discuss what he brings to the table at Ohio State and what Buckeyes can expect from “The Gladiator” going forward. I also incorporate miscellaneous things of note in Garrett Goebel’s story.

Height: 6’5
Weight: 280lbs
Forty: 5.0

His Recruitment: Garrett’s recruitment kicked off in earnest in late February, where he acquired offers from Ohio State, Indiana, Illinois and Vanderbilt. In just over two months’ time, he would have offers from every Big Ten school as well as Arizona State, Miami (FL), Tennessee, Notre Dame, and North Carolina State¹. Unofficial visits to both Wisconsin and Arizona State led Garrett to consider both schools in early April, though both would fall off the radar soon afterwards. However, just like most top-notch Midwest talent, the recruiting story for Garrett was a struggle among Notre Dame, Ohio State and Michigan, albeit two-phased in this instance. First, Notre Dame’s offer in April pitted the Irish against the Buckeyes, who probably made the first real impression on Garrett, throughout the month of June. Later, Michigan — who also offered at the end of April — emerged as a contender for Goebel once Notre Dame fell out of the running around the end of June. Garrett spent the next month reaching a decision between the two rivals before ultimately deciding on Ohio State at the end of July.

Ohio State was one of Goebel’s first offers and recruits, for the most part, respond in kind to a certain program when it is one of the first to extend an offer. Further, the name recognition and competitiveness of the program doesn’t hurt either, as Garrett knew that the Buckeyes are always a top-flight team and competing yearly for a national title. The early interest prompted Garrett’s first unofficial visit to Columbus at the end of March/beginning of April. This early visit had a profound impact on Garrett who found himself raving about the nature of the visit. Specifically, Garrett responded well to the personalized, one-on-one nature of the visit and got to meet most everyone on the staff, including Jim Tressel, and even met players like Dexter Larimore (another state champion HS wrestler) and James Laurinaitis. Ohio State was near the top of his list of offers, but the unofficial visit affirmed this ranking. Indeed, the only bad thing Garrett had to say about the visit was the length of the drive.

Michigan and Notre Dame entered the Garrett Goebel sweepstakes around the same time, Michigan on April 25 and Notre Dame on April 27. It was the Irish, though, that emerged as the first serious challenger to Ohio State’s position. Initially, it didn’t appear that Garrett was that high of a priority for the Irish, given their interest in players like Hafis Williams, who committed to the Irish on May 2, and Sean Cwynar, who will play the weakside DE in a 3-4 that the Irish wanted Goebel to play. However, Garrett became a top priority for the Irish after an impressive performance at a combine in Chicago on May 19, 2007. By the end of May, he was on campus at South Bend on an unofficial visit. On the visit, Garrett got one-on-one attention from the Notre Dame staff. The theme of the visit was largely academics, as the staff was able to instill in him the value of a Notre Dame degree relative to his other offers². While Garrett liked what he saw, he apparently didn’t feel too particularly wowed to label the Irish any type of leader for his services. Further, in the same Notre Dame-themed article aforelinked (sic), Garrett explicitly stated he felt he had to take a visit to Michigan and a return trip to Columbus.

However, by early June, Notre Dame appeared to be out of the running. The reasons why are ultimately left to inference, as Garrett Goebel is a man of few words. One possible reason is the June 4th commitment for Omar Hunter to the Irish³. The Irish were recruiting Hunter and Goebel for the same position — a weakside defensive end in a 3-4 defense. Further, the Irish were investing more in Ethan Johnson and Kapron Lewis-Moore, two more players for the same position. Both ended up committing to the Irish: Johnson by the end of June and Lewis-Moore on signing day in what I’m assuming was collateral for Omar Hunter decommitting and eventually signing with Florida. Whatever the reason, by June 27, the Irish were definitely out of the running. It might be a matter of coincidence, but Goebel formally informed Scout that he was no longer considering Notre Dame on the same day that Ethan Johnson committed to the Irish.

But as Notre Dame faded from the picture, Michigan next emerged as the challenger to Ohio State for Garrett Goebel. To be fair to the Wolvereenies, it doesn’t take a lot to see why a school like Michigan would interest a kid like Garrett. Their football accolades speaks for itself, Lloyd Carr always gets an endorsement from his players and, though committed to evil, the campus is nice and the university has an academic profile that probably can’t be topped among public universities. It doesn’t hurt that Garrett was aware of Alan Branch’s recent success for the Wolvereenies. After the Notre Dame visit at the end of May, Garrett was committing himself to take an unofficial visit to Ann Arbor. This visit came on June 15th. The tour of the facilities and meet-and-greet with the coaches and players impressed Garrett to the point where Garrett wanted to come back on another visit with his parents. After some delays, the return visit to Ann Arbor, with parents, eventually fell on July 20. Again, Garrett offered kind words about the trip, noting about meeting his would-be position coach, defensive coordinator, Lloyd himself and possibly being used in the same capacity as LaMarr Woodley. The visit was enough for Garrett to say that it was 50-50 Ohio State-Michigan with a few weeks left to go in his decision-making timetable. Whether or not it was courteous words to a Michigan-friendly Scout.com affiliate is beside the point; it definitely was enough to have Buckeye recruitniks sweating at this point.

But Ohio State appears to be the benchmark throughout his visits to Notre Dame and Michigan. The first impression he got of Ohio State never soured for the months after the visit. He was excited over the talent pool that Ohio State had put together on the offensive line, knowing it would be excellent competition for him should he attend Ohio State. Garrett liked Ohio State’s approach to recruiting and what they were telling him, going so far as to say that if he could only make it to one summer camp, it would be at Ohio State. Sure enough, this visit came on June 10, just five days before his unofficial visit to Ann Arbor. He was chauffeured around by Mike Adams (and spent lots of time with Jake Stoneburner and Andrew Sweat), speaking of Jim Heacock as “my position coach” (emphasis mine) and reiterating that he just wanted to see everything again. His reviews were nothing but positive, again noting how he liked the way Jim Heacock handled the drills. Further, as I noted in Willie Mobley’s feature, by mid-July, he was even doing some recruiting himself, playfully chiding Mobley into a contest of who would commit to Ohio State first. As the end of Garrett’s decision-making timetable approached, Ohio State was definitely in great shape, though this might be a case of hindsight bias. His last visit to Ohio State was followed by two unofficials to Ann Arbor, a cause of some consternation for Buckeye recruitniks. However, a quiet decision made on July 27 laid these anxieties to rest.

His Commitment: Consistent with Garrett’s mission to eschew attention from himself and commit early to focus on the tasks at hand (football and wrestling), Garrett opted for a quiet verbal on July 27 to the Buckeyes. The difference for Garrett was, well, everything. Ohio State’s academics, coaches, facilities and players (both incoming and current) were enough to make him feel more comfortable at Ohio State than at Michigan when all things were considered. Indeed, the first impression that Ohio State made on Garrett, both with the early offer and personalized visit on April 1 to Columbus, never left him as his recruitment carried on for almost four more months.

Where He Excels: If I could, I would have an entire defensive line full of state champion HS wrestlers. Wrestlers bring several comparative advantages to the trenches: leverage, aggression, balance, footwork among many others. He’s very strong even for HS considerations (where most top prospects stand out because most HS football players are terrible) and absorbs blockers and moves at the line as if they weren’t there. It didn’t look like double teams were that much of an issue for him, though I’m sure it would be in Big Ten play (just because college football is a significant step up from HS play). He possesses a great motor (though that term “motor” is often overused) and surprising speed at the point of attack and even elsewhere on the field. Indeed, there are clips of him running down skill players.

The fun part about Garrett is his demeanor, and I find myself fascinated more with his words than I am with his actions (and don’t get me wrong, I like his highlights). Reading Garrett Goebel’s words in interviews and seeing his highlights has me conjuring up images of that Lance Armstrong commercial from a year or two ago. You know the one I’m talking about: that Dick’s Sporting Goods commercial with the “Feed the Warrior” line. Every time I read Garrett’s words as he discusses his play or his athletic endeavors, that line keeps popping into my mind. If Garrett shines at Ohio State, it’s not because he’s a gifted athlete with many physical tools to his advantage. If he shines, it’s because he refuses to limit himself on any given play and in any given game. Garrett is all-effort, all-resolve all-day all the time. I think we can all agree that Michael Brewster is a future leader on offense, and his teammates will no doubt look to him in the huddle. I think Garrett right now is the most likely candidate for team captain/leader on the defensive side of the ball in the years to come, even over a linebacker stud like Etienne Sabino. You’ll see below why I keep reciting lines from that “Feed the Warrior” commercial when I read a given Garrett Goebel interview.

“But remember: Pain is temporary and quitting lasts forever. You wanna feed the warrior? FEED THE WARRIOR 20 POUNDS!! You feed the warrior by training the body to respond to the mind!”

Must Work On: There really isn’t a lot for Garrett to work on, and Jim Heacock will tell you as much. Garrett himself thinks he can work on his technique, and, sure, he could. However, I think of this as a minor thing that everyone needs to work on, so it’s not necessarily a glaring weakness. There’s a temptation for Garrett to swing too high when using his hands to shed a blocker, but that’s a minor thing that can definitely be fixed. He can definitely stand to add more mass, but so does everyone at his position coming from high school. He’s not Big Daddy or Warren Sapp, but those are rare gems. He’s plenty disruptive as it is. Again, these are all essentially minor things.

Garrett also thinks he’s not violent enough, and that he should be trying to decapitate more people. Reading that just made me smile.

Redshirt? More than likely not. Heacock loves to platoon the defensive line, and adding Goebel into the mix as a freshman to join Abdallah (Sr.), Denlinger (Jr.) and Larimore (So.) should get Goebel some playing time. That said, I think someone from the 2008 class of defensive tackles (Mobley, Goebel and Rowell) has to redshirt. Of those three, I see Mobley starting his career in the defensive end rotation in 2008, Goebel joining the trenches in the interior and Rowell as the most likely candidate for a redshirt (weight/fitness issues). I think Garrett is the most ready to play of any one of those three players.

Highlights: That there YouTubes has seven and a half minutes of Goebel footage. Enjoy.

Miscellany:

• His nickname appears to be “The Gladiator”. It works, but I don’t know the origin of the nickname. I’m guessing it’s a function of alliteration.
• Garrett’s credentials as a HS wrestler are as impressive as his credentials as a football player. Whereas Garrett has only played football since his freshman year in HS, he has wrestled since he was 6. In his junior year, he posted a 55-1 record and was a state champion. As a senior, his lone loss came to the nation’s no. 1 heavyweight (Eric Thompson of Waverly, Iowa). Garrett finished his wrestling career as the no. 2 ranked heavyweight in the country and earned wrestling scholarships to numerous schools, including Ohio State. Some schools even told him he could do both wrestling and football, though it seems odd that they would as both sports have entirely different conditioning programs.
• Garrett’s uncle, Brian Goebel, accompanied Garrett on numerous unofficial visits and even posted on BuckeyePlanet as XPunishr to give updates on Garrett and dispel rumors surrounding him. His updates were a refreshing read as he noted what kind of recruiting tactics other programs around the country were using on Garrett (use your imagination which programs he’s talking about) as well as what Garrett loved about Ohio State before anyone knew why Garrett was interested in the Bucks. He even broke word of Garrett’s commitment to Ohio State on BuckeyePlanet before any recruiting service heard of it. Brian also stated explicitly that Garrett’s enthusiasm for Ohio State is rare for a kid like him who doesn’t get entirely enthused about much. Brian’s account of a Goebel family dinner and anecdote with Jim Tressel is worth reading. Presently, Brian Goebel plays the role of a “recruiting manager”, if you will, for another Buckeye target from Illinois: Chris Watt. Therein, his task is basically to make sure schools have gotten his film and that they’ve seen it — largely administrative things. Chris Watt denies that Brian plays an active role in swaying Chris to the Buckeyes (and Brian does insist that he’s not pushing anything on Chris), but Brian does admit he can’t hide his enthusiasm for the Buckeyes or for the Buckeyes’ staff.
• Garrett’s dad owns and operate a concrete business in Villa Park, IL. Goebel Concrete, Incorporated has a listing on Google Maps if you feel like you need some concrete work done in the area. Well, don’t look at me. Garrett, like Zach Domicone and Domicone Printing, might not be able to use his athletic prowess as a marketing ploy for the family business, but the NCAA can’t stop me (please don’t stop me, NCAA). For what it’s worth, Garrett attributes some of his strength and frame to working for his dad in the summer.
• Tallied 68 tackles, 24 TFLs, eight sacks, forced three fumbles, and five swatted passes en route to an All-State selection as a senior.
• His high school — Montini Catholic HS — is a curious one. It’s average enrollment is a little over 600, which makes it a rather tiny high school. Yet, with that said, it’s one of the most dominant high schools in Illinois HS football.

The Quotable Garrett Goebel Fluff Piece: I think Garrett had the best Straight 6 interview of any of the 2008 candidates that BuckeyePlanet was able to do a feature on. Read these snippets, combined with some of the updates provided by Brian Goebel and Garrett’s highlight film and tell me that you don’t envision that Lance Armstrong “Feed the Warrior” commercial like I do. Simply put: he’s a devout Christian who feels he needs to decapitate people more.

BPRT: What position would you prefer to play in college and why?

GG: DT/DE. I want the CHALLENGE of taking on multiple opponents each play and having multiple responsibilities. Success is based on sacrifice, skill level, and dedication to be all that GOD has desired for me such as quickness, strength, hand-fighting, toughness, and being relentless.

BPRT: This is your senior year…what goals have you set personally and for your team?

GG: I plan on winning Conference, winning all playoff games, and becoming the Illinois Class 5A Champions!!! Also, developing leadership skills while convincing my teammates that they can perform at a higher level and accomplish team/personal goals IF THEY ARE WILLING TO MAKE THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE!!!

BPRT: When your career is over, how would you like people to remember Garrett Goebel?

GG: I want to be remembered as a leader, someone who gave 100% of his ENERGY every practice, workout and GAME while believing in accomplishing goals that others discounted. Dedicated, yet sincere, honest and humble while giving thanks to GOD to have this opportunity.

BPRT: If you were analyzing yourself on film, what would you list as your strengths and what needs some work?

GG: Strengths: Quickness off the ball, strength, aggressiveness, always giving 100% effort until whistle blows.

Weaknesses: Making a play instead of trying to rip my opponents head off [ Emphasis added ]. Discipline and technique.

FEED THE WARRIOR 20 POUNDS!!

Again, absent any real way to end these absent the way I always end these stupid features. Garrett Goebel, consider yourself better known… or something. If at all necessary, please kindly show future teammates how to kill the coward within.

1. Do they still have a football program there? [↩]
2. I call shenanigans here, since if it came down to academic prestige, Michigan is the clear winner. Not that you can go wrong with an education from any one of his schools. [↩]
3. Hunter later decommitted and ended up at Florida, just as a matter of note. [↩]