'Hungry' Reid Carrico can help push Buckeyes to championships

COLUMBUS — Reid Carrico had an idea of how the Ohio State players were feeling last month.

Carrico hasn’t been to a national championship yet, of course. But the top-ranked linebacker in Ohio knows what it feels like to walk off the field after losing a championship.

He’s done it twice.

Carrico’s Ironton team went to back-to-back state title games during his junior and senior year, losing both of them.

Much like the Buckeyes after their Fiesta Bowl loss to Clemson in 2019 and their recent title loss to Alabama last month, Carrico has a hunger level to win a championship that has eluded him for two years — and will help him fit right in at Ohio State.

“At the end of the day, unfortunately, there can only be one winner,” said Trevon Pendleton, Carrico’s high school coach at Ironton. “We haven’t been able to get that done the last two years. So I definitely think that hunger level is there with him, and I think going into a place that is feeling that same type of hunger, everyone strives for completion. We talk about that here all the time, completing our circles. Walking off that field and having that feeling of disappointment and that feeling of wanting to do anything to get back after it, to get your mind off it, to work toward another goal. Having that goal as now being an Ohio State football player, that’s his goal.

“His goals are centered there, and they are also working on that same mentality, getting over the national championship loss, it’s great. They’re not necessarily coming from a common place, but they’re working toward a common hunger.”

Reid Carrico arrived at Ohio State on a mission. (Birm/Lettermen Row)

After Carrico and the Tigers lost in back-to-back seasons to Kirtland in the Division V state finals, he was heartbroken. Winning a state championship meant everything to Carrico and the small town of Ironton, so much so that Carrico chose to play his senior year in pursuit of a state title rather than sit out this fall and prepare for a career at Ohio State.

Now there’s nothing Carrico can do to change that disappointment. He’s already enrolled at Ohio State working on the next mission: Trying to earn a role early in his college career.

Carrico only lost three games in his final two seasons at Ironton; two of them came in state championship games. Ohio State has only lost two games in that span, both in either the College Football Playoff semifinal or final. Both Carrico and the Ohio State program are used to winning, but both have also gone through adversity.

The four-star linebacker should fit right in with what Ohio State wants to accomplish.

“I think that’s going to be a very big part in his success at Ohio State, being able to handle adversity,” Pendleton said. “Not everything is always going to go your way. You’re going to have days that aren’t as good as others. Having that resilience and that calloused attitude to be able to draw back on things you went through in high school, some program things, it’s going to allow him to ultimately push through and see some light at the other end during his time in Columbus

“He holds himself to a high standard. He’s a guy who is never satisfied.”

Carrico will never be satisfied with all his high school accolades, especially after two state title losses. And Ohio State won’t be satisfied with just getting to the College Football Playoff two seasons in a row. There’s a similarity between Carrico and the program his is set to step into.

Now he and the Buckeyes will put their separate heartbreaks behind them and focus on getting back to the biggest stages — and finally winning.

“He’s just ready to compete and get after it,” Pendleton said.

Soon enough, Reid Carrico can help win a championship that has escaped both him and the Buckeyes the last two seasons.

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