Ohio State Buckeyes

What is Cubs slugger Kyle Schwarber's connection to Ohio St. football?

Published Oct. 20, 2015 3:43 p.m. ET

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Marcus Hartman

Ever watched Kyle Schwarber swat a home run and think the 6-foot, 235-pound Chicago Cubs rookie could have been a football player? 

Well like many athletic youngsters who grow up in Ohio, Schwarber did spend his autumns on the gridiron in high school. 

Until he and his team ran into a hot prospect named Braxton Miller. 

Schwarber's Middletown Middies were the No. 1 seed in their region after a 10-0 regular season his senior year when they played host to Miller's Huber Heights Wayne Warriors in the first round of the 2010 OHSAA playoffs. 

The Warriors were just 7-3 and barely made the postseason as the No. 8 seed, but their 21-0 shutout of Middletown in the first round launched a run to the Division I state championship game, where they lost to Lakewood St. Edward 35-28. 

Miller scored the first touchdown of the game on a 6-yard run and later threw for another in the fourth quarter to help put the game on ice, though he only had 108 total yards on the night. 

The Wayne defense was a bigger factor on the evening, limiting a Middletown offense including quarterback Jalin Marshall -- who like Miller is currently a playmaking Ohio State wide receiver -- to 120 total yards and eight first downs. 

As for Schwarber? The All-Greater Miami Conference linebacker did his part with 14 tackles. 

That was the end of Schwarber's football career, but things seem to have worked out for him since. 

(H/T Chicago Sun-Times) 

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