Marysville High School senior Gabe Powers signs his letter of intent to play football for The Ohio State University Buckeyes. He is pictured with his parents Erin and Mike. The ceremony was held Friday evening at The Ridge Golf Club. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
The football honors have piled high over the past couple of years for Marysville High School senior Gabe Powers.
He’s a two-time first-team All-Ohio player in Division I and is the two-time top defensive player in the state’s biggest division.
Powers has enough Ohio Capital Conference and Central District hardware to put on the mantle piece.
He’s been named the 2021 Ohio high school player of the year by both USA Today and Gatorade.
The capper, at least to date, came Friday evening when Powers made his choice of The Ohio State University Buckeyes official.
Powers signed his national letter of intent during an evening ceremony at The Ridge Golf Club.
The club, located on Robinson Road, was packed with Monarch fans and well-wishers.
“I’ve been an Ohio State fan all my life and I always wanted to play for the Buckeyes,” said Powers.
“The atmosphere at Ohio State is great and I love the team and coaches,” he said. “It’s also only 30 minutes from home, so my family can come see me play.”
At 6-4 and 220 pounds, Powers was recruited as a linebacker.
He verbally committed to the Buckeyes before his junior season and drew a lot of media attention during the 2021 campaign.
Powers helped lead the Monarchs to one of the best football years in school history.
They became only the sixth gridiron squad in school history to go undefeated (9-0) during the regular season.
MHS finished the campaign with a 12-1 record, falling to eventual D-I state runner-up Springfield in the regional championship game.
“I have coached for a long time and Gabe was extremely impressive in his approach to the game,” said Monarch head coach Brent Johnson. “He worked tirelessly and with great purpose, which created what we all got to experience over the past four years and what we will get to watch in the years to come.
“I remember watching him as a sophomore and you just knew he had qualities that were different, such as God-given ability, but also an understanding of the game, a drive to win and great focus for his team to be great.
“Gabe always knew when to lead by action, words or by just simply listening,” said the coach. “He made a difference in our program by the way he played and led our team.”
Powers was a multi-purpose player for the Monarchs.
He finished the 2021 campaign with 90 tackles and six sacks.
Powers also ran the football for more than 800 yards and was MHS’ punter.
All of those statistics enabled him to finish as one of the finalists for Ohio’s Mr. Football.
Although Powers has always been a huge Ohio State fan, he said he also looked at another Big Ten school.
“Penn State was No. 2 on my list,” he said. “However, Ohio State was always No. 1.”
Powers won’t have much time left at home after Friday’s signing ceremony.
He will leave on Tuesday, Dec. 28, for Orlando to prepare for the Under Armour All-American Bowl game.
That contest will be played in the Florida city on Jan. 2.
He is the first MHS gridiron warrior to play in the contest.
He will enroll early for classes at Ohio State on Jan. 4 in order to participate in spring football practices.
Powers, however, said he will return to Marysville to go through the graduation ceremony with his high school class in late May.
Powers said he’s not sure how much playing time he may earn as a true freshman next season.
All he knows right now is “this is truly a blessing and very humbling… I’ve always dreamed of playing at Ohio State.”