COLUMBUS — Luke Fahey chatted with his family members near the Ohio State team tunnel at the south end of Ohio Stadium on Saturday evening as buses idled nearby, waiting to take players back to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center across campus.
A few minutes earlier, Fahey was in the postgame interview room talking about looking forward to this moment.
“I can’t wait to go see my mom and dad, and get to call my grandparents as well, because this is a moment we’ve all dreamed about,” he said. “Just to run out there, it’s unreal. To play in the game and finally get a win? Words can’t describe how I feel right now.”
Fahey, a lifelong Ohio State fan from California whose family has ties to the university through his grandparents, got his first win in his third game as the Buckeyes’ starting quarterback. Nobody expected he’d be in this position so soon, a true freshman trying to help lead OSU through an unfamiliar losing stretch. When he was done celebrating with his family and before he stepped onto the bus, a group of young men who looked high school age, probably recruits on a visit, stopped Fahey to dap him up and take a picture. Good chance they didn’t even know who Fahey was four weeks ago.
The last month has been full of new experiences for Fahey. You can tell he’s still adjusting to it all, on and off the field. However, little by little, he’s looking more comfortable. Saturday’s 28-19 win against Northwestern was not a quarterbacking tour de force, but it was progress. Something the young player can build on as he navigates a challenging, and surely still confusing at times, new reality.
“I’m starting to get a little more comfortable, but I don’t think you can get really comfortable in this position,” he said. “You have to keep growing.”