Former Ohio State All-American football player has number retired by high school
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio – Mike Vrabel walked to midfield at Walsh Jesuit‘s Conway Stadium on Friday night at the end of the first quarter of Walsh’s game against St. Ignatius, where he was handed a framed maroon and gold No. 84 Walsh Jesuit football jersey, signifying that the number would never be worn by another Warriors football player.
The former Walsh Jesuit star, who graduated in 1993, was the first football player to have his number retired and he also received the Distinguished Alumni Award earlier in the week. He has also been inducted into the Walsh Jesuit Athletics Hall of Fame.
The former high school All-American doesn’t think back to those days very often, however.
“I ma not big on memories,” Vrabel said. “I wish I was. We won a lot of games, but I am always focused on what is going to happen next and whjat we can do next and what I can do in my current role.”
After excelling in three sports at Walsh – football, basketball and track and field, Vrabel played football at Ohio State, where he was a consensus first-team All-American as a senior in 1996 with 48 tackles and nine sacks. He was also the Big Ten’s Defensive Lineman of the Year in 1995 and 1996.
He was named to the Ohio State All-Century Team of the 1990s and was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012.
His play for the Buckeyes earned him a shot at the NFL, where he was a third-round pick of Pittsburgh in 1997.
Vrabel played four years for the Steelers, accumulating 56 tackles and seven sacks in 51 regular season games. In the postseason, he had one sack in two games, but it was a strip-sack of New England quarterback Drew Bledsoe late in the fourth quarter to seal a win in the Divisional Round his rookie season.
He signed as a free agent with New England prior to the 2001 season and spent eight years with the Patriots. He had 606 total tackles and 48 sacks in 125 regular season games for New England. The Patriots made the playoffs six times in the eight years and Vrabel played in 17 postseason games, racking up 84 tackles, eight sacks and three forced fumbles.
While in New England, Vrabel helped the Patriots win three Super Bowls. In two of those Super Bowls, he even lined up at tight end on offense and caught touchdown passes. He had a touchdown catch in Super Bowl XXXVII (end of 2003 season) to help the Patriots defeat Carolina 32-29, and also in Super Bowl XXXIX (2004) in a 24-21 win over Philadelphia.
Vrabel laughed when talking about his career catches, where all 12 whent for touchdowns. He said that when on a recruiting visit to Penn State, former Penn State head coach Joe Paterno asked Vrabel what position he played.
“I said, ‘oh, I’m a tight end,'” Vrabel said. “And before I could say ‘and defensive end,’ he’s like, Oh, tight ends are dime a dozen, I could find one of those down in Bellefontaine. He said, we’re looking for defensive ends, guys who can rush the passer. And I said, well, I guess I’m a defensive end. And he knew that the value of guys that could go and rush the quarterback. So to his credit, I said I am never going to say I am a tight end again, I’m gonna say, I’m a defensive end and tight end. So that was funny that he told me that in 1992.”
His achievements in Foxboro earned him a spot in the New England Patriots Hall of Fame, where he was inducted last year.
After the 2008 season, Vrabel was traded along with quarterback Matt Cassell to the Kansas City Chiefs for a second-round pick that eventually became safety Patrick Chung. He finished up his career with two seasons in Kansas City, making 100 tackles with a pair of sacks in 30 games.
In all, he played 206 career regular season games in the NFL with 762 total tackles, 57 sacks, 11 interceptions and nine fumble recoveries. In 20 playoff games, he had 88 tackles and nine sacks.
At the end of his playing career, Vrabel went on to be an assistant coach at Ohio State, where he coached linebackers for three seasons. After that, he moved on to the same position with the Houston Texans for three seasons before being named the defensive coordinator for the 2017 campaign.
Then on January 20, 2018, Vrabel became the head coach of the Tennessee Titans.
In six seasons at the helm of the Titans, Vrabel compiled a record of 54-45 with three playoff appearances and was named the NFL Coach of the Year for the 2001 season.
After being let go by the Titans this past January, Vrabel took a job with the Cleveland Browns as a coaching and personnel assistant.
It could be understood that the reason it too the time it did for Vrabel to get the honor was siompoly because he has been a busy man since he left the campus of Walsh Jesuit in 1993.
“My travels have taken me kind of away from here,” Vrabel said. “So to be able to have the opportunity and take a deep breath and get back here and spend some time here, I was able to visit in the summer here with the different events, and then being here with with the Browns, allowed me to come to the game and share this with a lot of teammates and classmates.”
Throughout his career, Vrabel has been involved in many charitable efforts, one of which is the “2nd & 7 Foundation” he helped found with former Buckeye teammates Luke Fickell (now the head coach at Wisconsin) and Ryan Miller. 2nd & 7’s mission is to promote reading by providing free books and positive role models to kids in need while encouraging young athletes of the community to pay it forward. The foundation has donated almost a million books to kids in need all across the country during its 25 years of existence.
The desire to help educate children should come as no surprise, seeing as Vrabel’s parents – Chuck and Elaine – are both educators.
“We just had a 25th year of football camp and that was the original fundraiser for to buy books,” Vrabel said. “And when we first started, we only had enough money to buy seven schools books. So we gave seven schools, seven second grade classes, books came up with “2nd and seven” with football tied in with down and distance.
“Now we are writing our own book. So those are things that we’re proud of. Try to promote literacy. Try to promote Ohio State student-athletes and their ability to give back, and their service. That’s all part of it.”
— Ryan Isley | ryan@scorebooklive.com | @sbliveoh
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