Photos by Jeffrey S. Hall Photography
Though A.J. Trapasso won four Big Ten championships as The Ohio State University’s punter from 2005-08 and spent some time in the NFL, he hasn’t lost sight of his roots.
Trapasso was recruited by OSU and other colleges out of Pickerington High School Central. Before punting for the Buckeyes, Trapasso was a talented running back. He rushed for 3,754 yards and 50 touchdowns during his high school career. In fact, many colleges recruited him as a tailback, while a handful wanted him as a specialist. Ultimately, though, he chose the punting route.
Photos by Jeffrey S. Hall Photography
“It’s a hard decision,” says Trapasso. “You have to think about the physical nature of it. My dad (Sam) and I spent a lot of time thinking about how my shoulders were going to hold up, how my ankles were going to hold up. Especially at an upper level. I think I made the best decision, physically, for sure because there’s no way I would’ve physically stood up to the pounding that would’ve been day in and day out for four years. Not to mention the fact Ohio State wasn’t looking for me to be a running back for them.”
After redshirting his first season at OSU in 2004, Trapasso logged 203 punts for 8,317 yards (41.0 average) in 51 career games across his next four years.
Trapasso was on the team for the 2006 OSU-Michigan game when the squads were nationally ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. The Buckeyes won, 42-39, at Ohio Stadium, which required new sod to be put down three times that season.
“It was arguably the best atmosphere I’ve ever been in, ever,” Trapasso says of the game. “It was certainly the loudest. The one thing I’ll never forget is that fans came onto the field and guys were rolling up that turf. That’s how easy it was to pull up. They were rolling it up and carrying it out of there. My cousin still has a piece in his freezer.”
Following his time at OSU, Trapasso pursued an NFL career. Although he was a member of the New York Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tennessee Titans during the 2009 preseason and regular season, he didn’t have much luck landing a permanent roster spot. He had two separate stints with the Titans that year as a rookie. In every case, the team decided to go with a more experienced punter.
The former Buckeye then signed with the Denver Broncos in January 2010, but was cut before training camp started that year. He decided to end his NFL career when the league had a lockout prior to the 2011 campaign.
“They don’t pay you to keep trying,” he says.
After the NFL, Trapasso went into commercial real estate for about a year prior to taking a couple of sales jobs. He then found himself back at OSU in 2013, this time as an intern. He helped familiarize then-incoming Australian punter Cam Johnston, who had only played rugby previously.
“It was fun, I guess,” Trapasso says. “I was there for 15 hours a day watching film. That part really sucked and took the fun out of it. Then there were times where I caught myself wanting to be treated like a player being in the facilities. So, I kind of had to check myself like, ‘No, you’re on the other side of this now. You’re going to get the short end of the stick as an intern.’ Which is totally fine, but it was an adjustment.”
Photos by Jeffrey S. Hall Photography
Following his internship with the Buckeyes, Trapasso coached football at Whitehall-Yearling High School for the next two years. He then joined Stryker Sports Medicine in January 2016 and has been there since.
His main priority is to sell implants and instrumentation to help the reconstruction of joint preservation for ankles, hips, knees and shoulders. Trapasso witnesses these surgeries firsthand.
“You’re in the room,” says Trapasso, who handles the drilling and stitching aspects of the procedures. “I’ve been splattered numerous times – we’ll just put it that way. Quite frankly, I’m so used to it now it’s like, ‘Thanks, Doc.’ You’ve got to be careful sometimes. You don’t want to stand too close, because then it’s on you.”
Trapasso and his wife, Kerri, married in July 2016. The two had a son, Salvatore Roman, on May 21. The family lives in Pickerington, a place Trapasso treasures calling his hometown.
“When you meet people out here, I don’t think – at least for my age group and for those a few years right after – that our high school experience was typical to kids across the country,” says Trapasso. “Extremely, extremely competitive environment that I grew up in.”
Trapasso believes the moxie that was an integral element in his childhood is fading with the younger age groups.
“I hate to speak for different generations … but kids now, in my opinion, are more finesse than they are just grit,” says Trapasso. “We had grit back then. We weren’t the fastest kids, we weren’t the biggest kids, we weren’t the strongest kids, but we were the meanest, toughest kids.”
The effects of playing in such a competitive and tough environment came to fruition when Trapasso and his high school teammates participated in a football event at OSU.
Trapasso can specifically remember his junior year, when the team went to play in an OSU seven-on-seven tournament run by former Buckeye defensive coordinator Mark Dantonio.
“We kept hitting people. We just couldn’t turn it off. …We got kicked out within the first 10 minutes, broke a kid’s arm, and that is nonstop. That is how we grew up. In no way would I change anything. We have a ton of pride in Pickerington – at least I do and a lot of people I grew up with do – and (we’re) not afraid to tell you about it.”
Ryan McGlade is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
RELATED READS
