Haskell Garrett made one of many greatest performs of Ohio State’s season-opening victory over Minnesota on Thursday.
The fifth-year defensive lineman recovered a fumble within the third quarter and returned it 32 yards for a landing to place the Buckeyes up 31-21. Ohio State (1-0, 1-0 Huge Ten) went on to win 45-31.
The play got here nearly a yr to the day that Garrett was shot within the face trying to interrupt up a battle in Columbus, Ohio. About two months after the incident, he returned to the sector and put collectively an All-America marketing campaign for the Buckeyes.
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In line with the Columbus Dispatch, Garrett tried to interrupt up a battle between a person and a lady on Aug. 30, 2020, and the person shot him within the face. The bullet went via one cheek and out the opposite.
“I simply know I used to be attempting to do the appropriate factor and it simply was unlucky the way in which it panned out,” he instructed the Dispatch. “That is actually the one factor I need to remark about that night time.”
SpectrumNews1 reported that Garrett mentioned he misplaced 5 enamel and needed to have a number of surgical procedures, however as quickly as he knew the damage wasn’t life-threatening, he labored to get again to the sector.
“Put up-surgery, I could not do something bodily, however I might do stuff mentally,” Garrett mentioned, based on SpectrumNews1. “Simply sit there and discuss with Coach (Johnson) and go over sport plans. Simply be ready as potential. Like I mentioned, after I got here again to be able to do something and every thing to assist the workforce.”
Garrett made his season debut Oct. 24, 2020, towards Nebraska and performed the remainder of the season. He completed the marketing campaign with 20 tackles — 12 solo, eight assists — two sacks, an interception and a landing as he helped Ohio State attain the School Soccer Playoff nationwide championship sport.
Garrett opted to return to Columbus for one remaining season as a substitute of go to the NFL. In Sport 1 of 2021, Buckeyes coach Ryan Day and Ohio State followers noticed how a lot of an influence he might have.
