Baugh rises above it all

There is no education like adversity.

– Benjamin Disraeli, two-time Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

No person is immune from adversity either but it is how one responds that will ultimately measure them.

Marcus Baugh's journey at Ohio State did not start off with the bang many people were expecting as a four-star tight end prospect out of Riverside, Calif., but with more of a whimper as Baugh immediately found himself in trouble with Urban Meyer and the coaching staff.

Fast forward to 2016 and Baugh is several years older and countless years wiser than he was as a true freshman, as adversity and Baugh became strange bedfellows along the journey.

"It was rough. Getting in trouble my second month (in Columbus) and having to go through everything," Baugh recounted in late December during Fiesta Bowl media day in Scottsdale, Ariz. "I was like the first one out of everybody to get in trouble. It really put me down, I didn't have a lot of confidence in myself."

Baugh was arrested for underage consumption of alcohol and displaying improper identification in July of 2013. The Buckeye freshman class had only been on campus since June and had not even opened up fall practice as a unit.

The then-freshman tight end was going to be buried on the depth chart at that point regardless, Jeff Heuerman and Nick Vannett were both ahead of him and the chances of seeing much playing time his first year were slim. But this was not about Baugh's journey to the field, this was about a young player being away from home and his choices off the field.

The 2013 season ended up turning into a redshirt season for Baugh, who would not get his black stripe removed — a signifier that an incoming player has earned the right to be a member of the Buckeyes — until Ohio State was preparing for the Orange Bowl against Clemson. Typically, most players will lose their stripes during fall camp or within the first couple of weeks of a season. Baugh’s path to losing his black stripe took much longer than most.

Everything was shaping up for 2014 to be a better year than 2013, until it happened again.

Baugh found himself in trouble in January of 2014, cited, once again, for underage consumption of alcohol, his second charge in six months. Baugh wound up suspended for the first two games of the 2014 season. But all of the hard work that Baugh had put in to repair his standing with the team and the coaches had gone out the door with a poor decision.

"I got in trouble again. I had to start back at zero again," Baugh said.

Marcus' father, Frank, had to field those difficult calls from tight ends coach Tim Hinton.

"The first time coach Hinton called me and I did not believe him, I kind of laughed and told him to stop lying but he was serious," Frank told BuckeyeGrove.com. "That was a shocker. Then as far as when the second one came around, I had to ask him what was the problem, what is he doing? I told him to man up now."

Baugh began to doubt himself and his place at Ohio State. The thought of transferring out became more and more appealing, as the troubled tight end was looking for a clean start somewhere else.

"I was pretty close. I had talked to coach Meyer about transferring and (he) just told me that was not an option," Marcus said. "At the time I was kind upset that he would not let me do it. It was my choice and I was like, 'I can transfer if I want to' but he did not let me and I am happy he didn't because now I couldn't be at a better place."

Frank remembers the meeting with Urban Meyer when the topic of transferring was brought up and how the coach was not having any of that talk. The elder Baugh was in town for an Ohio State game and sat down with Meyer in his office.

"(Meyer) said (to me), 'I hear you guys want to transfer.' And I was like, 'Yeah, we were thinking about it,' and it was just me and him so they went and got Marcus out of class and brought him over and sat us down and brought it up again. Then he flat out said no," Frank said. "I kind of giggled about it and Marcus just looked and he goes, 'You chose us,' and he was absolutely right."

Father and son talked about it after the meeting and decided that maybe a transfer was not the right course of action.

"We talked about it and it was like, 'He wants you to stay, then we will stay and stick it out.’ That has been our attitude the whole time," Frank said, "I told him that he got in trouble twice and that is what people think of him so it was time for him to rebuild his brand."

Marcus knew the path to redemption would be a hard one, one that he would have to travel down a second time.

"I felt like I let a lot of people down, my family and myself," Marcus said. "I thought I would be alright but then I get in trouble and I just let everyone down and I was disappointed. You never want to disappoint your parents. It was sad to see it happen so fast, I get to Ohio State and get in trouble right away, it is just sucked."

It was a difficult time for the Baugh family being thousands of miles away from Baugh as he was dealing with the criticisms on social media and beyond.

"There were a lot of sleepless nights worrying about him, what his frame of mind was," Frank said. "Knowing that you have the majority of ‘Buckeye Nation’ bashing you over, for lack of a better word, two stupid mistakes. One mistake is OK but two, now maybe the first one was not a mistake and something is going on. He assured me there was no problem and he would get it together, well he had to get it together because he did not have any more chances."

It was at that point that Marcus knew he had to make some meaningful changes if he was going to succeed.

"I was like, I can't do this, I can't keep doing this to myself." Marcus said.

Fellow tight end Nick Vannett was there to see Baugh struggling with the process and gives him a lot of credit for sticking with it and fighting through it.

"Watching him grow into the player and person he is today is awesome," Vannett told BuckeyeGrove.com after the Fiesta Bowl. "He had a few bumps in the road in his first year. He started to question if this was really something he wanted to do. It was tough being that far away from home, but he fought through it, worked his ass off, and bought into the culture to get where he is now."

John Rice was one of Marcus' assistant coaches at J.W. North High School before being elevated to head coach after Marcus had left for Ohio State. Rice hired Marcus' older brother, Mike, to his staff and is still close with the family.

Rice knew it would have been easy for someone to give up after getting in trouble and admires the Baugh family for coming together during that time. His former coach also credits him for staying strong and working through his issues.

"A lot of kids cannot overcome what he did," Rice said. "He got in the doghouse and to his credit he matured. Sometimes kids mature late. As coaches, when kids go away to college everybody has troubles of some kind, some are minimal and some are not, but he was able to overcome those. I had no doubt that after the second time, talking to his brother, that he was on the track."

The Baughs do not live far away from Riverside City College. The rosters there are filled with players who had a shot at Division 1 football, but couldn't make the cut. Some move back up to D-1 ball, while others fade away and never play again. Rice is proud of his former player for navigating the rough waters and remaining at Ohio State.

"(Junior colleges) are full of guys who run into a situation like Marcus and just did not have the fortitude or whatever to work it out and make a personal change, and he has," Rice said. "To me that is a testament to his family, his mom, the family is tight and I can't put that any clearer. The difference between him changing, maturing and doing the right thing after he had some struggles and the kids who don't do that and end up bouncing-back. Because California JCs are full of bounce-backs. He chose to suck it up and go forward and that does not surprise me at all."

Baugh scored his first touchdown for Ohio State in 2014 against Kent State and saw action in the two tight end set throughout the 2015 season. Baugh hauled in a 27-yard reception against Notre Dame in the finale and now knows that his time has finally come in 2016, as the only tight end on the roster with any collegiate playing time.

While no player ever plans on getting in trouble, it does happen. Baugh knows that he can be there for guys when that happens and hopes that his path from one foot out the door to presumptive starter can help others deal with problems should they arise and be a cautionary tale for others to not make their journeys any more difficult than they need to.

"I can definitely use it as a teaching experience, just telling future incoming freshmen as they are coming in, that if they get in trouble that they can definitely learn from my (experiences) and use it to motivate themselves," Baugh said.

And with that Baugh hopes to pass on the education that he learned through his own adversity and maybe spare his younger teammates the same steps.

Tomorrow we will look at Baugh the player and talk about what could be on the horizon for the Ohio State tight end going into the 2016 season.