It is a tough competition for any college football hopeful to make it into a school like Ohio State, and then at least stand a chance to make it in the NFL. With only a sliver of total college football athletes getting to do so, imagine the pressure walk-ons have to go through. And then imagine the pressure a walk-on with no football experience whatsoever has to go through. But former Buckeyer star, Nate Ebner, braved all these odds. Looking back, he’s grateful for the journey.
It didn’t come easy for Ebner, since he grew up loving his father’s sport, rugby. And because of the Junior World Championships, he even missed out on playing football in high school. However, his world turned upside down when his father was murdered when he was just 19. But before the tragic incident, Ebner told his dad that he would play for Ohio State as a walk-on, and “eye on getting an NFL shot.” Without ever having acquainted himself with the game, it was going to be a tremendous challenge for Ebner.
“Didn’t play a down of high school football. Cover Two, cover one, [no clue],” the former Buckeye said on April 6 on Julian Edelman’s podcast. “The best way for me to get on the bus was special teams. [The plan was] Just put him on kickoff, and let him eat. And I ate… I think I had that dog look on my tape, got me drafted. [I] Found my way to the NFL, and that’s kind of how it got started.”
Ebner’s father, Jeffrey, was a former college rugby player at the University of Minnesota and coached rugby at a local high school. That’s how Nate found his love for rugby, and his father made sure that he became a standout player. Nate became a star rugby athlete at the junior level, eventually playing three World Cups, earning MVP honors in 2007 and 2008. He did enroll at Ohio State, but never planned on playing football. Why would he? Nate’s rugby exploits didn’t ever enable him to explore the gridiron.
Former Patriot Nate Ebner on his walk on tryouts with Ohio State.
Never played a down of football in high school.
Olympian. 3x Super Bowl Champion.
Fun Fact – Vrabel was one of his defensive coaches at OSU.
Remarkable story. pic.twitter.com/cuNAxSs2IW
— Foxboro Forever (@_FoxboroForever) April 5, 2026
Nate was already enrolled at Ohio State for two years, but getting into the team was no joke. The only way was going to become a walk-on and then hope for a scholarship thereafter. He tried exactly that in 2009, among a long list of Ohio State students (75 to be precise) wanting the same glory he wanted to tread. But little did he know that the grind was going to be much tougher than he had expected.
Nate Ebner had to walk through fire to earn his Ohio State scholarship
When the OSU coaches decided to test those 75 walk-on tryouts with brutal drills, most tapped out even before running the 40. Not Nate Ebner. But they most definitely were not a happy memory for the Super Bowl-winning star.
“The hardest two weeks of my life were those walk- on workouts,” Ebner said. “I’d say that was probably one of the most humbling things I’ve ever done. They made the dynamic warm-up so hard that most of the guys were like doing high knees like it was a competition. And watching these dudes send it on some high knees, that was so funny. And these dudes tapped before even running the 40.”
Jim Tressel was Ohio State’s head coach at the time, and he consistently handed out scholarships to walk-on players. In one notable instance in 2008, the HC awarded scholarships to four senior walk-ons mid-season. But for Tressel, walk-ons were expendable, served depth roles initially, and weren’t protected like other positions. That only meant more brutal workouts, full pad drills, even early in spring, and an emphasis on unrelenting hard work.
“One thing they made us do was walking lunges across the field, and no one could drop a dumbbell, and we were doing with like 75-pound doubles,” Ebner said of the walk-on workouts. “If somebody dropped a dumbbell, we had to start over. I could not walk after that. That was killer… At the end of those two weeks, just three of us were left.”
Ebner knew the opportunity to play on defense wasn’t going to be easy at Ohio State. So, he turned to fill a void in the special teams’ primary tackler, ditching his defensive aspirations. He totaled 7 tackles in his first year, got thirteen in the second, and notched 11 in 2011. After his senior season, Ebner told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that he was “not getting overly excited about the draft.” But teams were looking at his major contributions as a special teams player.
That’s what got Bill Belichick to take a shot at Nate Ebner, who drafted him in the sixth round. Mike Vrabel, who had joined Ohio State as a coach in 2011, had said at the time of his drafting that New England was a good place for “a talented player that maybe doesn’t know all the techniques, doesn’t have all the experience.” Those words rang true, as Ebner was able to win three Super Bowls with the Patriots.
Nate Ebner carries an undying love for the city of Columbus
After all that glory, he still loves and cherishes his time in Columbus, being a native of Dublin, Ohio.
“All my experiences have made me love Columbus so much,” Nate said. “I’ve lived in Boston and New York City, New Jersey, and San Diego. I’ve been everywhere, played rugby all over the world. And the more I travel, the more I love the United States, but more specifically, within the United States, I love Columbus. I grew up here, so I’m obviously biased, but the people here are nicer than anywhere else. It’s so green, and there’s no traffic everywhere.”
Vrabel is the Patriots’ head coach now, and Ebner finally retired in 2021. Looking back now, coaches like Jim Tressel and Mike Vrabel were only the catalyst. It was Nate’s work ethic, unrelenting attitude, and a desire to serve his father’s memory that did the job. He might not be remembered for his OSU heroics, but people in Ohio State Buckeyes football circles will still remember his name for the unconventional, underdog journey he went through.
