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High school football: OSU freshmen relish playing against world
Friday, June 26, 2009
By Zach Swartz
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

For most incoming freshmen on major-college football teams, the summer routine is usually the same -- high school graduation, campus move-in, workout sessions, maybe a local all-star game.

But for two Ohio State newcomers, the summer of 2009 has been a little different. Linebacker Storm Klein and offensive lineman Jack Mewhort aren't spending their early summer days in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center weight room but on a synthetic field in North Canton.

Klein and Mewhort are among the 45 soon-to-be Division I athletes on the United States national team, one of eight from around the world competing in the first Junior World Championship beginning this weekend in Canton. Team USA has been practicing for the past two weeks at Walsh University and will play its opener Saturday at Fawcett Stadium, next door to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

And they are more than happy to be there.

"I don't know when I'm going to play at Ohio State -- it could be two more years before I play football again," said Mewhort, who is likely to redshirt this fall. "So being here, playing against these guys, playing in an international tournament, is great."

Klein, who played at Licking Valley, and Mewhort, from Toledo St. John's, have been roommates since enrolling early at OSU in January, and they haven't strayed far from football since.

"We were working on a lot of stuff," Klein said. "But taking it here, I'm one step ahead. I think that's a big advantage. At Ohio State, the guys are bigger and stronger. You have to work and you have to prove yourself, and it's the same way here."

Although the NFL backed global junior tournaments between 1997 and 2007, this is the first one coordinated by the International Federation of American Football, an organization promoting football in 52 countries. The U.S., which was awarded the No. 2 seed behind Canada, has lost the previous three international tournaments to its neighbor to the north. It's made Klein and Mewhort more than ready to show the world what the U.S. can do.

"I've played in a lot of big games," Mewhort said. "The spring game was obviously what I thought was the biggest game of my life. But if we make the championship (July 5), then that will definitely be the biggest game of my life."

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