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Smith hopeful as NFL lockout lingers
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Brad Smith of the New York Jets, a graduate of Chaney High School, holds his one-year-old niece Kennedy Carpenter of Youngstown during the United Way’s “Champions Among Us” annual banquet Thursday at Mr. Anthony’s in Boardman. Smith and Ohio State junior lineman and Cardinal Mooney High School graduate John Simon spoke at the event and were honored by organizers as local champions who have represented the Mahoning Valley in a positive manner.
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Ohio State junior lineman and Cardinal Mooney High School graduate John Simon during the United Way’s “Champions Among Us” annual banquet Thursday at Mr. Anthony’s in Boardman. He was honored by organizers as local champions who have represented the Mahoning Valley in a positive manner.
By Joe Scalzo
Boardman
A few months ago, when the United Way planned its guest speakers for their annual “Champions Among Us” banquet, event organizers targeted Ohio State junior John Simon, a Cardinal Mooney High graduate who was going to be honored “as a local champion who has represented the Valley in a positive manner.”
Simon was taking a summer class that wouldn’t let out until 3 p.m. but OSU was going to allow its standout defensive lineman to leave early for the occasion.
Then the “Tattoo-gate” scandal erupted — briefly ensnaring Simon, who has vehemently denied his involvement — prompting Jim Tressel to resign and OSU to tell Simon he needed to stay for the entire class.
It was a small reminder of just how much things have changed over the last few months, not just for Simon but for the entire Buckeye football program.
“It’s been tough for everyone, but honestly it’s brought us all together,” Simon said of the OSU football team. “We realize we need each other now more than ever.
“We’re just ready to play football and be done with this whole scandal.”
Simon was among the players mentioned in a Sports Illustrated article as having traded autographs or memorabilia for tattoos at a Columbus tattoo parlor, but Simon, who has three tattoos, said he got all three at a shop in Hubbard.
“I’m clean,” he said. “You don’t have to worry about me. I’ve never been there [to the parlor] and I don’t even know where the place is.
“I understand mistakes happen and I understand [the article] was a misunderstanding, but it’s rough on my family to have to answer questions and things like that. That’s probably the part that hurt the most.”
An All-Ohio lineman at Mooney, Simon played well in his first two years under Tressel, who he called “the best coach I’ve ever had.”
He appeared in 12 games last season, making 41 tackles, including 81/2 for loss with two sacks to earn honorable mention All-Big Ten by the coaches and the media.
While Simon said he’ll always support Tressel, he is looking forward to playing for interim coach Luke Fickell.
“He’s a great guy, a players’ coach,” Simon said. “I would say Coach Fick is a little more fiery than Coach Tressel, but their morals are the same, so I can’t see a lot of things changing.
“He’s the guy we need right now.”
Several high-profile recruits have decommitted to the Buckeyes in recent weeks but Simon said he doesn’t follow the team’s recruiting.
“We’d love to have anyone we can get, but if we can’t get them, we can’t get them,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of great guys coming and a lot of great seniors coming in and we want to make sure we welcome the young guys in because they can really help us out this year.”