Shaun Wade could not walk away from his Ohio State football teammates and their national championship potential

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Jordan Fields answered her phone and for two minutes heard no words from the other end.

When Ohio State cornerback Shaun Wade finally spoke, his longtime girlfriend could hear the pain in his voice.

Wade placed the call from inside the Buckeyes’ locker room at State Farm Stadium, in Glendale, Arizona, last Dec. 28. Minutes earlier, he had made the biggest play of his career — sacking Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence and setting Ohio State up to take a commanding halftime lead in the Fiesta Bowl.

Then came an official’s review, a targeting penalty and an ejection. Wade now sat in that locker room, shocked and alone after being required to leave the field. When he finally broke the silence on the phone with Fields, his focus returned to his team.

“He was yelling at the TV like he was out there on the sideline,” said Fields, no relation to Ohio State’s quarterback.

That play ended Wade’s game and season, and nearly his college career.

One week later, against the advice of his parents, Wade announced he would return to Ohio State for his junior season. Then came the coronavirus pandemic in March, the cancellation of the Big Ten season in August and weeks of uncertainty.

So for about 84 hours this fall, Wade decided to give up the remainder of his Buckeye career. When the Big Ten reinstated the season, the potential first-round pick felt the pull to finish what he had started. That controversial call in Arizona would not be the punctuation mark on the end of his college tenure.

“I can’t go out like that on that last targeting play,” Wade said when announcing his second return of the offseason. “I have to come back and do great things for the Buckeye Nation and my teammates.”

Wade’s drive to lead Ohio State to the 2020 national championship began long before the Big Ten limbo. It began in that nearly empty locker room in Arizona last December. The people closest to him — some in the stadium that night, some back home in Florida — watched him process that disappointment and use it as motivation for the next 10 months.

His father

As Shaun Wade left the sideline for the locker room following his ejection, Randy Wade’s pride cut through the confusion and anger. Sitting in the stands with his wife, Gwen, and other friends and family members, he had just watched his son make back-to-back impacts.

On second-and-5, Wade had recognized Clemson running back Lyn-J Dixon running a route out of the backfield, stuck to him and prevented Lawrence from targeting him when the pressure came.

On third-and-5, he had come on a blitz from his slot cornerback spot, shot untouched into the backfield and took Lawrence down with the help of defensive end Chase Young. The sack appeared to force a punt, giving the Buckeyes a strong chance of shutting Clemson out heading into halftime.

“He was making plays on a national stage,” Randy Wade said. “(The penalty is) something you can’t control.”

Randy Wade, a career Navy man, raised Wade in a competitive environment. Trophies fill the family home in Jacksonville. They competed within the home, too. With Shaun Wade on track to graduate this past summer, Dad decided he’d better hurry up, and beat him to the punch. Randy Wade finished his degree in supervisory management from Florida State Community College at Jacksonville last year.

Shaun Wade excelled in basketball and football early. Disappointments were rare and carried lower stakes. Randy Wade remembers his son being distraught in Pop Warner one year because his team lost in Miami with a chance to go to Disney World and play for the national championship.

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Wade later won that national tournament with that team, then led Trinity Christian Academy to four straight Florida Class 3A high school championships. That final victory came with a prediction. He said he was coming to Ohio State to win another championship.

Before that night in Arizona, Wade’s Ohio State career had featured many more wild celebrations than crushing defeats. He was a five-star, top-20 national recruit in the 2017 class. He played nickel corner for a 13-1 Buckeyes team as a redshirt freshman. When new head coach Ryan Day installed a one-safety defense for 2019, Wade seized the crucial slot cornerback starting job — and blossomed.

Somewhat overshadowed last season by eventual first-round draft picks Jeff Okudah and Damon Arnette, Wade broke up eight passes, intercepted one and developed a reputation for physical play in the run game.

Randy Wade, right, father of Ohio State football player Shaun Wade, fist bumps University of Iowa football father Rodney Dixon during a protest outside Big Ten headquarters in Rosemont, Ill., on Aug. 21, 2020. Wade was one of the most vocal proponents for the return of Big Ten fall football, even as he knew his son was ambivalent about returning.AP

Last winter, when his son was certain he wanted to return to Ohio State for his junior season, Randy Wade said he and Gwen felt the opposite. They had nothing against the school or the Buckeyes’ coaching staff. The professional opportunity, however, seemed too good to pass up.

Nine months later their opinions had reversed.

Shaun Wade was ready to walk away from the on-again, off-again Big Ten football season and get on with his life. He wanted to fully dive into year-round training. He wanted to grow in his relationship with Fields, his girlfriend since high school. He was ready to live an adult life away from the limitations of NCAA guidelines.

Randy Wade saw just as many reasons for his son to return to Columbus.

“I thought if they were to win the championship this year, his name would be cemented in Ohio State Buckeye history,” Randy Wade said. “He would be one of the top Ohio State Buckeyes ever. You can’t get these moments back.

“Him sitting at home or working out, watching his boys play when he had the opportunity to go for another championship — that wasn’t what he was going to do.”

On Sept. 14, Wade announced he was opting out of the season to prepare for April’s NFL Draft. He was scheduled to formally sign with an agent on his birthday, Sept. 16. Randy Wade put together a birthday party that night, with several surprise guests joining remotely.

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day protested the targeting call against Shaun Wade that resulted in the cornerback’s ejection from the 2019 Fiesta Bowl against Clemson.David Petkiewicz, cleveland.com

Buckeyes coach Ryan Day and his predecessor, Urban Meyer, both called. So did defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs, who recruited Wade to the Buckeyes in his first stint with the program. Former OSU assistants Jeff Hafley and Taver Johnson joined. Coaches reaching all the way back to Wade’s Pop Warner days called in to congratulate him on his achievements and trajectory.

Randy Wade said his son woke up the following morning with a “renewed spirit.” That night, live on ESPN2, he announced he would rejoin the Buckeyes.

“Those people gave him the clarity to come back,” Randy Wade said.

His trainer

A few seats down from Randy Wade at the Fiesta Bowl, Jerrian Sanders could not comprehend what he saw.

The founder of SET Performance in Jacksonville, Sanders went to Arizona to watch the culmination of a project that began when Wade first came to his facility at 9 years old. The composure Wade displayed after the game reminded Sanders of the uncommon maturity Wade had exhibited as a child.

“It was devastating for all of us,” Sanders said. “How he handled it was truly admirable.”

One could not yet project Wade as an NFL prospect at age 9. Sanders remembers a humble kid who looked him in the eyes and addressed him with respect. He worked hard, asked smart questions and carried himself with a spirit that resonated with the trainer.

As Wade grew older, the challenges Sanders presented intensified. His sports science system is designed to push athletes to their limits in the course of their training. One treadmill called “The Force” measures athletes’ speed, watts of power achieved and other metrics.

You can also measure workouts in another volume. Sanders makes sure garbage cans are located nearby.

“Eighty percent of the time, athletes get on it and they throw up — though that’s not our goal,” Sanders said. “There were times (Wade) got on there, busted his butt, threw up and got right back on there.

“Even after getting beat down, he was still hitting those goals.”

Shaun Wade made an impact with blitzes and as a run defender, as well as a cover man, as Ohio State’s starting slot cornerback in 2019.David Petkiewicz, cleveland.com

Sanders characterized their workouts in Florida this past offseason as “straight Rocky Balboa.” Wade ran in the rain, pushed blocking sleds and took out his frustrations in preparation for this season.

In addition to championship aspirations, Wade returned for professional reasons. With Okudah and Arnette locked in ahead of him, he had not played outside cornerback full time. He wanted to compile a season of film at that position for NFL scouts.

Sanders designed a comprehensive program based on studying Wade’s movement patterns and correcting them for efficiencies. Then they began checking off a long list of skills in need of refinement: Getting out of breaks more quickly. Loosening up his hips. Improving his acceleration.

Between the two of them, Sanders might have held on to more anger about the Fiesta Bowl. He believes Ohio State would have played for a national championship if Wade had finished the game.

Wade, though, spoke more magnanimously even right after the game. Sometimes officials make mistakes, too. Sometimes rules are poorly written.

Sanders instead saw an athlete motivated by something else to push through those grueling workouts.

“His mind was set on unfinished business again,” Sanders said.

His girlfriend

Jordan Fields was supposed to be in the Fiesta Bowl crowd with the Wade family and Sanders on Dec. 28. Bad weather in Florida delayed her flight. By the time it would have landed in Arizona, she could not have made the game on time.

So she and her mother, Cheryl, watched from home. Her mother recorded a video clip of Fields jumping up and down when Wade took down Lawrence.

Then came a pause in the action. “What’s happening?” The officials conferred. The referee announced targeting. Wade jogged to the locker room. Fields could not watch anymore.

Then her phone buzzed, with a text from Wade. She wanted to give him his space, but also support him.

“If you want to talk, I’m here,” she replied.

Fields related to Wade’s pain.

She was a champion sprinter and hurdler during their high school days. As a high school senior, Fields brought the fastest time into the 100-meter hurdles preliminaries at the Florida State Relays, a major invitational meet. She had focused her training on that race, and believed a victory or runner-up finish would help her land a college scholarship.

Fields lined up for her prelim, set herself at the line — and false started. Disqualified, she walked off the track while the race continued without her.

Ohio State cornerback Shaun Wade (24) broke up eight passes in addition to this interception against Rutgers in 2019.AP

“I was so upset, just crying,” said Fields, who went on to compete in the hurdles, high jump and heptathlon while studying pharmacy at South Carolina.

“I said, ‘I’m not going to get recruited.’ It was a devastating feeling, and I felt that for him.”

Wade eventually gathered his emotions on that call from the locker room. Fields muted her television in Florida, so Wade could not hear the game in the background.

Fields talked Wade through the second half. Clemson’s rally, which started immediately after his ejection. Ohio State pulling ahead in the fourth quarter. The Tigers immediately answering. Ohio State’s final drive, ending with an interception that invigorated the purpose Justin Fields and receiver Chris Olave bring into this season.

Fields observed the toll the coronavirus pandemic took on Wade’s football preparation during the offseason. He needed physical therapy to correct a lingering abdominal injury from the season, but clinics were not always accessible. He felt pressure to make a decision on his future, but had no idea what the Big Ten would decide about the present.

As much as anything, though, Fields said Wade’s dedication to the Buckeyes kept calling to him.

“He was suited up for the Ohio State football team, and to go out with that as the last play you remember — that weighed on him a little bit,” Jordan Fields said.

“The team losing, too, was also a big thing. That’s why his main goal was to come back and win a national championship. He felt that was robbed from him after what happened.”

Randy Wade kept the video clip of his son predicting an Ohio State national championship back in high school. He plans to show it to him if the Buckeyes finish the job after this season.

No one needs to show Shaun Wade how last season ended.

“He still isn’t over it now,” Randy Wade said. “You’ll see a difference this year. You’ll see a really committed Shaun Wade.

“He’s very driven and committed, because he knows what he wants to do and knows how hard everyone fought to get this.”

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