Buckeye Battle Cry Series: Best Ohio State football player to wear No. 19

Which Ohio State football player was the best to ever don the No. 18? It’s our next debate in a series to identify the best for each number.

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Plummer is a solid pick, but I’m actually going to go all-in with Tom Tupa. He was the team’s starting quarterback in 1987 and is arguably one of the best punters ever in the Big Ten. He is statistically speaking the best punter in Ohio State history when it comes to average per punt. In 1984 he set the record at 47.1 yards per punt, and also holds the second place average with 47.0 from his senior season in 1987.

His numbers at quarterback won’t jump off the page at you, but he did throw for 1,786 yards and twelve touchdowns in 1987, helping orchestrate an upset of Michigan in Earle Bruce’s last game as a head coach. In The Game, he passed for 219 yards on 18 of 26 passing.

Though it doesn’t mean anything for what he did in college, Tupa went on to have a productive NFL career as a punter and backup quarterback and was a member of the Super Bowl-winning Tampa Buccaneers team in 2003.

Next … Brock’s final take