Ohio State to recognize Herbstreit, Hawk with annual ‘Ohio’s Finest’ awards

A pair of Centerville grads will be recognized next week during Ohio State’s 91st annual spring coaches clinic.

Kirk Herbstreit will be presented with the “Ohio’s Finest — College” award while A.J. Hawk will receive the NFL version.

Herbstreit is a long-time college football analyst for ESPN who added NFL analyst duties for Amazon last fall.

He was a star quarterback at Centerville in the mid-1980s before spending five years in Scarlet and Gray.

Hawk was a star linebacker for the Elks at the turn of the century and a four-year contributor at Ohio State, where he won a national championship in 2002 and was a two-time All-American.

The 2005 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, Hawk was taken in the first round of the NFL Draft in 2006 by the Packers and spent 11 seasons in the NFL, including one with the Bengals.

Hawk, who went into the media after retiring in 2017, won a Super Bowl with the Packers in January 2011.

He is scheduled to speak at the clinic at 11:25 a.m. April 14 at the Ohio State football facility.

Head coach Ryan Day will follow him at 11:40 with Ohio State assistants Tim Walton, Brian Hartline, Corey Dennis, Perry Eliano, Justin Frye, Larry Johnson and Tony Alford scheduled to give presentations in the afternoon.

Dr. Jim Borchers, an Alter High School grad who played at Ohio State and was the football team doctor before becoming Big Ten Chief Medical Officer in 2021, is also set to present a talk on mental health that day.

Herbstreit will be among the speakers the night of April 13 and be honored along with OSU All-American defensive back Mike Doss at 8 p.m.

After that, Day and former OSU coaches Urban Meyer, Jim Tressel and John Cooper will take part in a roundtable discussion.

Those interested in more information or registering to attend the event can contact Tim Hinton, executive director of football relations, at hinton.49@osu.edu.

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