By: David Leon Moore (USAToday.com) –

The all-Big Ten Ohio State senior strong safety knows the game might hinge on whether he makes one-on-one tackles in open space against Oregon’s explosive playmakers.

“It they break a tackle, they can go all the way,” Coleman says.

But the Buckeyes know that, on and off the field, Coleman has been one to meet challenges head-on.

A muscular 5-11, 188-pounder and something of a demon in the weight room, the Dayton, Ohio, native was shaken to his core in his first year at OSU during spring practices when his tackle on walk-on wide receiver Tyson Gentry left Gentry paralyzed.

Coleman, just 17 at the time, was devastated and considered quitting football until he visited Gentry in the hospital and was comforted by the player and his family.

“He told me he was going to be all right, and his family hugged me,” Coleman recalls. “They said it wasn’t my fault.”

Coleman has been buy prescription drugs on line a friend to Gentry ever since.

“I saw him at Thanksgiving,” Coleman says. “He’s doing OK. He’s starting to get a little movement. But he’s got a long way to go.”

Eight months after Gentry’s injury, Coleman’s father, Ron Coleman, was diagnosed with breast cancer, an extreme rarity among men.

Again, Coleman, then 18, was shattered. But his father said he was putting his fate in God’s hands and told him to do the same.

Three years later, Ron Coleman is cancer-free and working as an assistant principal at a high school in….

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE DIRECTLY FROM THE SOURCE PAGE AT USATODAY.COM BY CLICKING HERE.

No related posts.