How did it all begin for Marcus Freeman?
A conversation with Mark Gokavi, who covered Freeman when he was simply a local star.
Mark Gokavi found himself at plenty of Wayne High School football games at the turn of the century. A sportswriter for the Dayton Daily News from 2000-12, Gokavi covered much of the area’s prep scene, and Wayne was among the most formidable schools.
The biggest reason for that? An Ohio State-bound star named Marcus Freeman.
“It was hard not to watch him on the field, because he was playing linebacker, and he was everywhere all the time, no matter how the team was doing,” Gokavi said.
With Freeman on college football’s center stage this week, readying to coach Notre Dame in the national championship game against Ohio State, his alma mater, it is worth going back in the time machine and seeing how Freeman’s football roots really began to take hold.
Who better to ask than Gokavi, who was kind enough to chat at length about his memories of covering Freeman the prepster.
Spoiler alert: A lot of people saw this coming.