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ATLANTA — The sports world will be watching Ohio State and Notre Dame Monday night with the national championship at stake.
So will Rich Hansen, but he will be particularly focused on two guys: Ohio State linebacker Cody Simon and Notre Dame defensive end RJ Oben.
St. Peter’s Prep of Jersey City will be on center stage, featuring two of its alums in college football’s biggest game. The duo played together for three seasons.
“I’m excited for them, man,” Hansen, the school’s athletic director and former football coach, said. “These two guys are among the finest humans walking the planet, and I mean that. Obviously they possess an athletic skill set, but there’s so much more to them, you know.
“They embraced the grind, the competition and challenge, and that’s really what sets them apart. Their work ethic, they carried themselves with maturity and class here. I can’t think of two guys who are more deserving to be in that environment and have that opportunity. It was the honor of my career to coach two guys like that.”
Both Simon and Oben have helped their respective defenses be among the country’s best.
Simon led Ohio State in tackles with 104 and notched seven sacks and seven passes defensed.
He was the Defensive MVP of the Rose Bowl, a one-sided Buckeyes victory over Oregon in which he had 11 tackles and two sacks.
In his first season at Notre Dame, after spending the first five years of his career at Duke, Oben had 18 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble.
Both had to be patient.
Simon waited his turn at Ohio State, finally breaking out as a fifth-year senior.
Oben, the son of former Giants offensive lineman Roman Oben, didn’t play quite as much as he may have liked this year, but he came up big in a quarterfinal win over Georgia with a strip sack.
Now, the two former high school teammates will share the same field one more time as opponents at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“I talked to RJ a couple days ago. It’s always bigger than the rivalry or anything,” Simon said. “I just appreciate he’s in the position with me and we can all share the moment. Two guys from the same high school are pretty cool.
“We have a term called, ‘Prep for Life.’ That really does run deep. There’s a lot of people who have come from our school, and we always try to stay connected. It does mean a lot for our high school.”
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Ohio State linebacker Cody Simon and Notre Dame defensive end RJ Oben.
The only problem for St. Peter’s Prep and Hansen is picking a side. The former coach can’t do it. He does have a dream for Monday night, though.
“I am rooting for the first ever 0-0 tie in national championship college football history,” Hansen joked. “That’s the bad part of this whole thing. Someone is going to walk off losing and neither one of them deserves to lose. But I’m going to honestly just enjoy their effort and know that they really deserve to be in this environment.”
