Springfield native Knox returns to Texas for third time with Buckeyes

“I was born in Springfield, Ohio,” Knox said Tuesday after practice, “but I feel like Texas will always be my home.”

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Knox redshirted in 2014 when the Buckeyes played at AT&T Stadium in the national championship game. He started last year in the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium. He also played there when he was a freshman in high school at All Saints Episcopal School in Fort Worth, just 26 miles from the stadium.

A photo of AT&T Stadium was on the TV screen above the turf at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center on Tuesday. The words “All In” were over the photo.

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Knox will be glad to be back as a fifth-year senior who has already earned his degree. Despite his Ohio ties, he likes to describe himself as a southern guy. He has been ever since his uncle, Jerome Cavitt, told his mom Aledia Cavitt he would have a better chance of getting recruited if he played high school football in Texas. That’s why he left Springfield in middle school.

“Ohio State is Ohio State, but even high school football down there is big,” Knox said. “The whole city shuts down and everything. No matter if it’s middle school or high school football, everything is dramatic down there.”