Four more Buckeye captains chosen by team vote
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Soon after the Fiesta Bowl Ohio State coach Urban Meyer named junior quarterback J.T. Barrett, senior center Pat Elflein and junior linebacker Raekwon McMillan as team captains for the 2016 season. Today, he added to this year’s leadership corps by announcing four more individuals, who were chosen by team vote, to captain the team. Those four are:
- Fifth-year senior linebacker Joe Burger, from Cincinnati’s LaSalle High School;
- Fourth-year junior cornerback Gareon Conley, from Massillon Washington High School;
- True junior defensive end Tyquan Lewis, from Tarboro (N.C.) High School; and
- Fourth-year junior offensive guard Billy Price, from Austintown Fitch High School.
Burger has worked hard to earn a scholarship and complete a journey from preferred walk-on into a valuable contributor on the playing field and a role-model citizen off the field. He has played in 34 games for the Buckeyes and is a three-time Academic All-Big Ten Conference honoree and a four-time OSU Scholar-Athlete. He will graduate in December with his degree in industrial and systems engineering.
Conley is the only returning starter in the defensive secondary and he’ll leverage his 28 games played and 1,158 plays of experience with his younger teammates who are in the same position Conley was in this time last year: fighting for playing time. Conley has played in every game the past two seasons, including 13 starts last year for the 12-1 Buckeyes, and has nine career passes defended – seven break-ups and two interceptions – and 65 total tackles. He is majoring in sport industry.
Lewis led an Ohio State defense in quarterback sacks last year as a sophomore with 8.0 for 47 yards in lost yardage. A 28-game veteran and a 13-game starter, Lewis is coming off a fine season sophomore season in which he started all 13 games. He enters 2016 with 16.5 career tackles-for-loss and 8.5 quarterback sacks. He is majoring in sociology.
Price is set to start at offensive guard for a third consecutive season. Regarded as one of the strongest players on the team, Price was selected as a third-team all-Big Ten performer last year. He has played in every game the past two seasons and has started 28 consecutive games, including all 15 games during the Buckeyes’ national championship season of 2014 when he earned freshman All-America honors. He is majoring in operations management.
Barrett is 15-2 as a starting quarterback and has averaged 302 yards of total offense per game (220 passing and 82 rushing) in those 15 games while accounting for 58 touchdowns. Elflein, a 29-game starter, is switching from guard to center and has been named a first-team preseason All-America this year by six of seven organizations. McMillan led the Buckeyes in tackles as a sophomore with 119 and was a finalist for the Butkus Award.
(Ohio State Buckeyes press release)
