Fickell arrived at Ohio State as a freshman in 1992 after earning Ohio lineman of the year honors at St. Francis DeSales High School in Columbus. He also compiled a 106-0 record on his way to three consecutive wrestling state championships, including two in the heavyweight division.
John Cooper (head coach, 1988-2000): They don’t get any tougher than Luke Fickell. I’m going to tell you right now.
Ryan Miller (linebacker, 1992-96): He probably to this day is the best high school wrestler in the state of Ohio.
Cooper: He went undefeated for three years in a row. Hell, he pinned just about everybody he wrestled.
Lorenzo Styles Sr. (linebacker, 1992-94): But when you get in a room full of alpha males, sometimes things get said and people want to react a certain way.
Ty Howard (defensive back, 1992-96): We were freshmen at Ohio State. I’m not going to say this D-lineman’s name that came in with us. But he was a trash talker, big guy, just ran his mouth. He wasn’t trying to bully Luke, per se. But he was one of those guys that would never back down. He just kept going, kept going at Luke.
Styles: Most fights in football turn into wrestling matches, and I don’t think you want to do that with a wrestler.
Howard: We all knew that Luke was an all-world wrestler. We just didn’t know how quickly Luke’s fuse would go before he would let loose on the guy. And the guy kept going and kept going. And then Luke finally just grabbed the guy by his chest and said, “Look, leave me alone. Let’s just play football.” The guy goes to remove Luke’s hand, and this guy was probably every bit of 275, 280. Luke tossed this guy like he was my size, and I’m a defensive back. It really opened up a lot of people’s eyes.
Winfield Garnett (defensive lineman, 1994-97): I saw a couple of guys underestimate Luke and they ended up with their feet in the air getting slammed.
Eddie George (running back, 1992-95): That’s one dude that you did not want to see in an alley or get in a fight with at practice because he would twist you in knots.
Matt Finkes (defensive lineman, 1993-96): Obviously in camp there’s always fights. Offensive and defensive linemen are always fighting. One time, somebody came down and down-blocked him and a scrum broke out. Luke just tossed him. Like, a five-point, freestyle, feet-above-the-head toss.
Miller: The two of us were on the scout team together while redshirting as freshmen. We’re just young Buckeyes trying to cut our teeth against the No. 1 offense. And Luke every other practice would be in a fight with some senior and he’d be hip-tossing them. And these guys didn’t know how to do that. It was kind of comical.
George: He was quiet, but he was an ass-kicker.
Howard: He’ll never punch first. But if you tick the guy off, it’s just bad news.
Garnett: Luke didn’t start fights. He finished them.
Howard: Even as a freshman, Luke was undersized, but, man, he was dominant.
Finkes: The guy played nose guard in the Big Ten at like 265 pounds. You don’t do that without being a tough son of a bitch.
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