CPD
After OSU said no, Akron quickly said yes to Kennedy
Friday, September 15, 2006Elton Alexander
Plain Dealer Reporter
Akron football coach J.D. Brookhart says working at Ohio State's 2004 summer camp helped bring tailback Dennis Kennedy to Akron.
A Florida coach who worked at the camp called Brookhart late in the summer to tell him Kennedy no longer had the scholarship he was offered that spring by Ohio State.
"We immediately jumped on it, got him up here on a visit," Brookhart said. "Came up in July and made a quick decision. I don't know that anybody else was even aware of it. He became available and we were on it, quickly."
That has proven to be a sweet ending to a bittersweet courtship between the Buckeyes and Kennedy.
Kennedy took a redshirt year at Akron in 2004 and was a backup in 2005. This season, the starting job is all his. In his second start Saturday, the sophomore delivered 117 yards rushing and three touchdowns in Akron's 20-17 upset victory over North Carolina State. In two games for the Zips (1-1), he has 55 carries for 176 yards and four touchdowns.
But back in high school, Kennedy looked forward to joining the college football home of a couple of his neighborhood friends, Nate Salley and Chris Gamble.
"I think about it, playing in front of 110,000 like we did at Penn State," Kennedy said. "It would be great to play in front of that many people. But like I say, God has a plan for me, and his plan was for me to be in Akron."
Or, maybe the plan was Ohio State's.
Kennedy signed his national letter of intent in February to attend OSU, but three weeks before the start of football camp, he was told he did not meet eligibility standards for Ohio State -- although he did meet NCAA eligibility standards. Kennedy's scholarship offer was taken back.
Several years ago Ohio State began raising admission standards, which means a prospective athlete can meet NCAA requirements but fall short of OSU's standards.
According to Kennedy, the problem was easily solved. His high school originally credited a chemistry class as an elective, not a core class. "I went back and got it fixed," Kennedy said.
But that apparently didn't satisfy the Buckeyes, who told Kennedy he could enroll at a branch campus, then later switch to Columbus to start his football career -- a recommendation that resulted in the call to Brookhart.
Keith Skinner, Kennedy's coach at Stranahan High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said he believes there was another running back just slightly ahead of Kennedy that OSU also wanted.
"They didn't think [the other back] would get the scores, but he got the scores, and that knocked Dennis out," Skinner said. "They tried to say it was an academic thing with Dennis, but it wasn't. I just think it was more than that. But they [Ohio State] let him go. Sometimes things happen for a reason."
The 2004 recruiting class, headlined by Ted Ginn Jr., included running backs Antonio Pittman from Buchtel and Erik Haw, and fullback Dionte Johnson. Pittman is in his second year as a starter for the Buckeyes and Haw decided to transfer before this season.
Kennedy did not have the gaudy high school numbers of a typical Ohio State recruit. As a junior, he rushed for 882 yards. As a senior he gained 967. With a 5-11, 209-pound physique, he certainly could have switched positions.
Brookhart, who formerly coached at Pitt in the Big East, was asked if Kennedy had Big Ten talent.
"I didn't know, watching him on the scout team, if he was really that," Brookhart said. ". . . But I knew he had it last year in the first game against Northern [Illinois]. He caught a ball on the swing pass and neither corner caught him. He's good enough."
Ohio State is in the past now, and Kennedy does not cling to what could have been. He said he watched last week's Ohio State-Texas game with no ill feelings.
"Everything happens for a reason, and this happened for a reason," Kennedy, an architecture major, said. "The Ohio State thing happened pretty fast. I'm happy I made the decision to come here."
