An underdog and dancing bear: Meet Jamie Meder, the Ashland lineman and Parma native who could go in the 2014 NFL Draft

By Doug Lesmerises

May 4, 2014

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Pro days can be a circus, college football players put on stage for NFL talent evaluators, and the bearded 300-pound man working out alone at the end of Ohio State’s Pro Day in early March was a curiosity.

He wasn’t a Buckeye. But Jamie Meder was someone scouts wanted to see.

“He’s probably the strongest kid I’ve ever been around,” Ashland University defensive coordinator Tim Rose, a college coach for 35 years, including for 29 years at nine different FBS schools, would say later. “And he’s really more athletic than you think he is. He’s not super fast and he runs a little bit high, but he’s really a big dancing bear kind of guy.”

One who can bench press 515 pounds. And one, who after four years dominating the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in Division II college football, could wind up getting picked in the NFL Draft this week.

A Parma native and 2009 graduate of Valley Forge High School, Meder could have been a major college football player out of high school, but he didn’t qualify academically.

“I was just being a dumb teenager and putting too much focus into sports when I should have been putting it on grades as well,” Meder said.

A semester at Cuyahoga Community College helped get him on track and he wound up at Ashland, “the only school that didn’t give up on me.”

He made All-GLIAC as a freshman and sophomore and as a junior and senior was named the conference’s best defensive lineman. That alone won’t have 20-plus NFL teams stopping by your practices during your senior season to check you out, as Meder had in the fall.

“He’s been highly scrutinized,” Rose said.

But at 6-foot-2 and 293 pounds when he was at Ohio State’s workout, with good feet and a bench press that maxed out at 515 pounds, Meder has a package of skills as a defensive tackle that lift him out of the pack.

“He has football intelligence and awareness that translate well to the NFL level,”CBSSports.com draft analyst Dane Brugler said. “He’s country strong and stout with a try-hard attitude that will endear him to pro coaches.”

The draft is no sure thing. Brugler ranks Meder as the No. 33 defensive tackle in his draft guide, in the range that could find him as a late-round pick or a free agent. But he’ll get a shot at the league one way or the other. Meder knows the names of small-school Ohio players who have made it, listing Mount Union receivers Pierre Garcon (sixth-round pick in 2008) and Cecil Shorts (fourth-round pick in 2011) and London Fletcher, the linebacker from John Carroll who became a Pro Bowler after going undrafted in 1998.

The NFL will find players anywhere. At Ashland, the Eagles had defensive lineman Jeris Pendleton drafted in the seventh round two years. Also out of the GLIAC, Hillsdale offensive tackle Jared Veldheer went in the third round in 2010 and Grand Valley State receiver Charles Johnson was drafted in the seventh round last year.

Ashland defensive tackle Jamie Meder was twice named the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference defensive lineman of the year.Courtesy of Tom E. Puskar/ Ashland University

“I think he’s going to be an interior NFL defensive lineman,” Rose said. “He’s able to hold up against most double teams and he just manhandled some of the offensive linemen we faced. Not everybody, but he’s just really strong and has great leverage. He can sort things out in that gap and defeat the double team. Of course we’re biased to our own players, but I think he’s going to be drafted and on a roster somewhere.”

Just after his workout at Ohio State, Meder admitted he felt like “an underdog” going through drills at the indoor field at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. He put up 33 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press that day in the OSU weight room, which would have ranked third among defensive linemen at the NFL Combine. But Meder wasn’t thrilled with the result.

“I should have done better,” he said. “I was a little nervous in this atmosphere.”

Meder also played in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl after the season, invited to that postseason all-star game that included players from FBS schools from all over the country. Just before that game, he got a text from Valley Forge head coach Jamie Vanek that read, “You belong here.”

Meder’s takeaway from that experience?

“It just made me an even bigger believer in myself,” Meder said. “I just felt like I actually belonged, that I could do this.”

On day three of the NFL Draft on Saturday, when rounds four through seven are conducted, Meder could have that feeling again.

Burkhead, Team Jack hold online auction for Brain Cancer Awareness Month

May 1, 2014

The month of May is National Brain Cancer Awareness Month and the Team Jack Foundation continues to make efforts to raise awareness.

Plano Senior alum and current Cincinnati Bengals running back Rex Burkhead has been instrumental in the foundation’s rise and devotion to the cause of combating pediatric brain cancer. The former Wildcat is encouraging all to join him in taking a stand against it.

Team Jack will be holding an online auction for the duration of the month, where items like an autographed Burkhead Bengals jersey or a Team Jack football autographed by Burkhead and Jack Hoffman, an 8-year-old boy currently battling brain cancer, will be available for bidding.

All active, registered bidders will receive a free Take A Stand Team Jack t-shirt. Sale proceeds will support research for pediatric brain cancer.

To participate in the auction, go to TeamJackFoundation.com.

Iowa's Morris and Stribos Earn Big Ten Medal of Honor

The nation's oldest collegiate conference commemorates the 100th anniversary of a very unique tradition - the Big Ten Medal of Honor

May 1, 2014

Rosemont, Ill. -

As the Big Ten continues to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Big Ten Medal of Honor, senior student-athletes James Morris and Marike Stribos were named the 2013-14 Big Ten Medal of Honor recipients for the University of Iowa, which were announced at the UI's annual academic and athletic achievement banquet. Morris is a standout on the football team, while Stribos is a member of Iowa’s field hockey team.

The conference's most exclusive award was the first of its kind in intercollegiate athletics to recognize academic and athletic excellence. The Big Ten Medal of Honor was first awarded in 1915 to one student-athlete from the graduating class of each university who had "attained the greatest proficiency in athletics and scholastic work."

Big Ten schools currently feature more than 8,200 student-athletes, but only 24 earn this prestigious award on an annual basis. In the 99 years of the Medal of Honor, over 1,300 student-athletes have earned this distinction.

Former Hawkeye field hockey player and Iowa's 1988 female Big Ten Medal of Honor winner Liz Tchou served as the banquet's keynote speaker. Tchou was a four-time All-Big Ten first team selection who led the Hawkeyes to the NCAA Championship in 1986. She was named first team All-America in 1987 and was selected as a member of the 1987 NCAA All-Tournament team. A two-time Big Ten Conference MVP, she was the first Hawkeye female to have her number retired. Following her Hawkeye career, she played for the U.S. Women's National Team for seven years (1989-93, 1995) and was a member of the 1996 Olympic Team and the 1994 U.S. World Cup team. Tchou was inducted into the University of Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012.

Morris, from Solon, Iowa, recently completed his playing career as the Hawkeyes concluded the 2013 season with an 8-5 overall record following their appearance in the 2014 Outback Bowl. He moved into Iowa's starting lineup early in his freshman season and started 42 career games. Morris totaled 400 career tackles, ranking sixth on Iowa's career chart. Morris ranked second on the team with 107 tackles in 2013. He earned second team All-Big Ten honors and was the Iowa recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. Morris led the Hawkeyes in sacks (8), tackles for loss (18) and interceptions (4), becoming the first linebacker to lead Iowa in interceptions since the stat was first kept in 1986.

A political science major with a 3.87 grade point average, Morris was named to the 2014 Capital One Academic All-America first team. He earned a $7,500 NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship and was named a National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete. A three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, Morris was one of four finalists for the Lott Trophy and one of 12 finalists for the Wuerffel Trophy.

Stribos, who hails from Brussels, Belgium, played in 79 career games, with 76 career starts during her Hawkeye career. She posted 13 goals and 42 points as a midfielder/back. Stribos earned Academic All-Big Ten honors in all three years that she was eligible and has twice earned the Big Ten Conference Distinguished Scholar Award. A four-time NFHCA National Academic Squad member, she earned NFHCA First Team West Region All-America honors and was a second team All-Big Ten selection as a junior. She is a double major in finance and management with a 3.89 grade point average.