Football Buckeye Summer Camp Brings Former Buckeyes and Offspring to ColumbusBy John Porentas
The second session of OSU football camp youth camp is underway, and there are some familiar names in attendance, and some not-so familiar names with some familiar connections.
Tanner Bell hs come all the way from Georgia to attend OSU camp this season. We don't know Tanner's 40 time, but Tanner has good size at 5-6, 112 pounds. That really is good size no matter what you might be thinking right now, because Tanner is headed into the fifth grade next fall, and that's pretty good size for a fifth-grade football player.
Tanner has been playing organized tackle football since he was eight years old, and despite his Georgia roots, is a staunch Buckeye fan.
"Ohio State," said Tanner when asked his favorite football team. "I hate Georgia. I like Georgia Tech better than Georgia," he said.
Odd, you may think, for a kid in Georgia, but Tanner has some real solid reasons for being a Buckeye fan.
"My grandfather coached here and I just wanted to see how good their camps were here, to see how good the kids of Ohio are," Bell said.
Tanner's grandfather is none-other than former OSU Head Coach Earle Bruce who was on hand yesterday to watch his grandson register for camp in Columbus.
"I think it's exciting for him and I hope he has a good experience and I hope he likes it," Bruce said of his grandchild's participation in OSU camp.
Tanner could have gone to camp in Georgia, or for that matter at Florida where Bruce's close friend Urban Meyer is the head coach, but there was no question in Tanner's mind where he wanted to go. Tanner says his mother, Aimee Bell, has done a good job of making sure that he is aware of his OSU football heritage.
"She tells me about all the bowl games, what they did, where they travelled, where they lived, what teams they played for. She keeps me up on my Buckeye history," said Bell.
Tanner is using this camp to do a little experimenting.
"I'm going to go with the quarterbacks here. I usually play defensive end and offensive line. I just wanted to try something new to see if I would be any good at it," he said.
Believe it or not, Tanner has already begun hitting the weights, having gotten weights for Christmas last year. His grandfather is not quite sure what to make of all that, but he is sure of one thing, he's proud to have his grandson at OSU camp.
"He chose the camp, not me. That's what I like," said Bruce, who said he has a special reason for wanting to see his grandson at OSU camp.
"He's here too because of Jim Tressel. Tressel is the kind of coach that I would want him to play for," Bruce said.
Bell is not the only legacy camper at OSU this summer. The sons of former Buckeyes Vince Workman and Orlando Lowrey attended the first session of camp, and this session has a number of other legacy campers. Keith Byars II is back for his second season of OSU summer camp, accompanied of course by his father, Keith Byars, who is nothing short of delighted that his son wanted to come back to Columbus this year.
"He loves it here. We're in Florida, but he's all Buckeye, all Buckeye," Byars said.
David Mitchell is on hand for OSU summer camp. Like Tanner Bell, he also came all the way from Georgia to be in attendance. He is the brother of current Buckeye safety Brandon Mitchell. David, who is going into the ninth grade, said his brother's influence on his choice of summer camps was undeniable.
"Because I want to see how it is in Ohio and I want to get better," he said of his reasons for attending camp this year.
David's big brother, Brandon, was on hand to make sure his little bro got all registered, and plans on keeping tabs on him during camp.
"I'll be keeping an eye on him and I'll be introducing him to all my coaches so they'll be keeping an eye on him too. I'll definitely have reports on how he's doing," Brandon said.
"I told him to come here (for camp), so he can see what the kids in Ohio are doing and see how he measures up against them and to see what he needs to get better at in order to be a successful college player."
