Maybe if Logan Tuley-Tillman had walked through an Ann Arbor mall wearing an Ohio State hat, this whole story might have been different. But he didn't. Tuley-Tillman, a four-star offensive lineman from Peoria, Ill., wore a Michigan hat on a trip to a Columbus mall and found himself cussed out by OSU fans, one of whom threw something at him. That soured Tuley-Tillman on Ohio State and led him to commit to Michigan instead, and to the incident that is giving the 17-year-old his first 15 minutes of fame. Tuley-Tillman has been receiving death threats since posting a photo of himself on Twitter Saturday in which he is shown setting an Ohio State recruitment letter on fire.
Tuley-Tillman has remained unapologetic this week, and has even (in perfect 17-year-old fashion) provided OSU with even more bulletin-board material, telling CBSSports.com's Bryan Fischer with regard to OSU that "There was just something about them. They're a good school, I just really hate the whole state of Ohio." The offensive tackle has spoken with enthusiasm about the schools' intense rivalry, but maintains that the hatred shown him from the folks in Columbus has taken him aback. "Stuff like that I don't understand," he said.
Let's hope he doesn't get the treatment that a classmate of mine got back when we were sophomores at Ohio Wesleyan University in nearby Delaware, Ohio. One fall afternoon, she headed down to Columbus to do some shopping. Not a football fan, she didn't understand what was happening when, crawling in bumper-to-bumper traffic on High Street, she found herself suddenly surrounded by young men in red jerseys, who pulled her out of her car and held her back while the swelling crowd overturned her car. She wasn't the type to wear the red and black of OWU, but it probably wouldn't have mattered next to her car's Michigan plates. Yep - she was from a Detroit suburb.
The date was Nov. 22, 1980. Final score: Wolverines 9, Buckeyes 3.
