Character counts for Buckeyes’ Laurinaitis

The senior linebacker passed up millions to return for his final season at Ohio State.

COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio State’s Austin Spitler remembers the first thought he had upon hearing that the guy in front of him at linebacker, James Laurinaitis, was coming back for his senior season.

“Oh crap,” Spitler said.

Spitler later looked at Laurinaitis’ return as a positive, another chance to learn something from the finest linebacker in the country. He tried not to think of another year spent on the sideline, watching No. 33 roam the field making tackles.

Almost everyone figured Laurinaitis, who was tabbed as a top-10 or even top-five pick in this spring’s draft, would take the money and run. But the junior said the decision to stay for his fourth season as a Buckeye wasn’t all that troubling.

“I just prayed hard on it and once you pray on something, you get a sign and you run with it and you don’t have to worry about it anymore,” he said Friday. “I took advice from the people closest to me and they were all kind of telling me, ‘Hey, come back.’ I took that as a sign.”

It isn’t often these days that a young athlete walks away from a promise of Lamborghinis, diamonds and million-dollar homes to hang around with his buddies for another year. A player’s stock rises and falls according to the fickleness of the experts before a draft. Injuries can cost millions in future earnings.

But Laurinaitis took what amounted to a winning lottery ticket ... and tore it up.

Fellow linebacker Curtis Terry said he was shocked when he heard that Laurinaitis was coming back.

“I was very surprised, but that just speaks for James and what type of character he has,” he said. “He wanted to finish what he started. I commend him for that, because that was a tough decision.”

Laurinaitis (6-foot-3, 240 pounds), who will be a senior this fall, is one of the most decorated linebackers in college football history. He won the Nagurski Award two years ago and the Butkus Award last season and has been a first-team Associated Press All-American both seasons. He also was the Big Ten’s defensive player of the year last season and is an odds-on favorite to add the Lombardi, Lott and/or Bednarik trophies this year.

But it wasn’t all the accolades and awards that drew him back for another season.

“Education’s important, being with your friends, this is the best time of your life,” he said when asked to list the reasons for returning.

His mother and father — Joe Laurinaitis, the WWE wrestler known as “Animal” from the Legion of Doom — urged him to get his degree and enjoy his last year before turning pro. So that’s just what he decided to do.

He admits there are times when he digs deep into his pockets and wishes he could pull out a wad of cash. But at the same time, he doesn’t have any doubts that he did the right thing for him and his family.

“There’s no regrets,” he said.