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Buckeyes' Laurinaitis handles initiation well

Buckeyes' Laurinaitis handles initiation well

ANN ARBOR - Consider it freakish football fate that a gangly, fresh-faced 18-year-old kid from Minnesota gets dropped smack in the middle of a centuries old conflict between Ohio and Michigan.

James Laurinaitis, the first Minnesota player on scholarship with the Buckeyes in 72 years - since Sid Gillman was an Ohio State captain in 1933 - took that precipitous plunge.

A second-team linebacker for the Buckeyes as a freshman, Laurinaitis expected to spend most of his late fall Saturday afternoon here nervously milling around on the sideline, and taking in the aura of the Big Ten's annual battle of the titans.

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But when Ohio State senior Bobby Carpenter got hurt on the first defensive play of the game for the Buckeyes, and with intense pain etched on his face hopped on one foot toward the OSU training staff, the coaches frantically called for Laurinaitis to get out on the field.

Exactly one year ago he was playing the big school state championship game in Minnesota, and now Laurinaitis was standing next to Ohio State All-America linebacker A.J. Hawk and facing live fire from No. 17 ranked Michigan in the Big House. That is time travel.

"It was a little bit of a shock, but we're always coached to prepare like you're a starter, and to be prepared to play at any moment," Laurinaitis said.

"On that first play my mind was just flying around. I kind of wasn't sure what I was doing, but then A.J. Hawk settled me down."

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Laurinaitis, who was rated as the top linebacker in Minnesota when he led Wayzata High School with 193 tackles last season, said he also got counsel from Carpenter, who had his injured right leg X-rayed during the first quarter, then returned to the sidelines on crutches, wearing a protective boot.

"Bobby told me he believed in me and the coaches believed in me, and he said he was confident I was going to go in there and do a great job," Laurinaitis said. "He said to play real physical, and no matter what happened, to just keep playing hard. This is a guy who I've looked up to ever since I got to Columbus, and he's an incredible athlete and a great player. It has been a blessing for me to have someone like Bobby Carpenter to work with in practice every day, and to learn from."

Laurinaitis, who had seen mop up work in nine games for the Buckeyes before getting thrown into the fire against Michigan, was credited with one tackle in the game, and was part of an Ohio State defense that limited Michigan to only 32 rushing yards and 223 yards of total offense in the 25-21 victory by the Buckeyes.

"James got tossed in there unexpected, and I think he played really well," Hawk said. "Those are huge shoes to fill, and for a freshman, that's tough. If you think about it, your first real game duty is against Michigan, in Michigan Stadium, that is tough for anyone to do. But James stepped in there and played. He didn't seem nervous at all. You have to give him a lot of credit for what he was able to do in a really difficult situation."

Ohio State coach Jim Tressel, who might be without Carpenter for the bowl game since the senior's injury has been diagnosed as a fracture in the fibula near the ankle, said Laurinaitis did what he was coached to do.

"You hate to lose one of your leaders, your veterans, your playmakers," Tressel said, "but all of our guys just keep playing. It doesn't matter what the score is, what the weather is or who is injured. They play. That's the way they work."

For Laurinaitis, the kid from the land of 10,000 lakes who maybe had to hum a few bars of Carmen Ohio after the first couple of Ohio State victories this season, will know all the words, and be ready to play on first down in the bowl game.

"If that's what I have to do, I'll be prepared for it," Laurinaitis said.

Contact Matt Markey at: mmarkey@theblade.com or 419-724-6510.

First Published November 21, 2005, 3:39 p.m.

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