Bradd Ellis has been labeled a “walk-on” his entire career.
Used as a taunt, it’s designed to elicit thoughts of a player who just can’t hack it. So, it came as no surprise when Ellis, once a walk-on, heard it again Saturday.
With Ohio and Eastern Michigan tied 3-3 near the end of the first quarter, Eagles quarterback Brogan Roback threw a touchdown pass in the back corner of the end zone. Or so he thought.
The receiver pushed off his man, Ellis, and a flag was thrown. The touchdown was wiped off the board.
“I was messin’ with the wide receiver,” Ellis said, smiling. “I was like, ‘Bro, you gotta push off just to get a catch today.’ ”
“The quarterback had heard me, he turned and was like ‘Hey bro, shut the f--- up, you’re a walk-on!’ And I said, ‘You’re 0-for-4 throwing to a short, white walk-on.’ ”
A quarter later, Ellis jumped an out route and returned an interception for a touchdown to give Ohio a lead before halftime. It was Ohio’s only touchdown in regulation.
Ellis, now on scholarship, hasn’t taken the path of a typical walk-on. There have been ups and downs, but he has established himself as a starting cornerback for Ohio this year, as well as a leader on the back-end of the field.
And it didn’t matter what players shouted their taunts, former walk-on or otherwise, as Ellis cut upfield and into the end zone against Eastern Michigan, arms out wide, smiling and screaming.
“At halftime when the teams jog across, I was jogging with (Roback) just saying, ‘Am I still a walk-on? Am I still a walk-on?’ Second half he really didn’t say anything. I don’t think he really wanted to talk to me anymore.”
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Ellis was supposed to be a Buckeye.
Both of his parents, Robin and Chadd, attended Ohio State. That was their son’s plan, too.
Then one day in the spring of Bradd’s senior year of high school, former Ohio wide receiver Chase Cochran texted his old teammate from Lebanon High School.
“I actually sent (Cochran) my film, and he took it to the coaches,” Bradd said. “They found out about me and said, ‘we don’t have a spot for you, but if you come to school here and you workout and stuff, we’d love for you to come to a tryout in January.’ And here we are.”
Instead of an academic scholarship in Columbus, Bradd went to Athens to tryout for the Bobcats. He enrolled as a student and took part in winter workouts with the team. But he couldn’t blend in, either.
“We did the winter workouts in The Convo,” Bradd said. “I remember myself, Grant Cunningham and Bo Hardy, us three were together in that class. Everyone was in white jerseys, and we were in purple. You could pick us out anywhere, through all the conditionings.”
That’s the difficult part of being a walk-on, too. There is no room for error, no room for a mistake.
Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams are allowed 85 scholarship players on the roster. Each scholarship handed out is treated with great care.
Then there was Bradd and the walk-ons. Every day, they had to compete for their spots on the roster.
“Any time in spring ball they can cut you,” Bradd said. “It’s kind of intense, every day you’ve got to bring it. You’re going against guys who know the techniques, who have been doing this for however-many years when you’re brand new to the team.”
That’s what helped keep Bradd around, though, the fact that he was able to bring it each and every day. He kept learning and working at his technique, slowly moving up the depth chart.
"He's a good athlete, and you start with that obviously,” coach Frank Solich said. “He's a very bright guy and a very smart football player. He doesn't make the same mistakes time after time. He's a quick learner so he uses his intelligence to make himself a great cornerback."
Bradd, a redshirt senior, played in two games in 2014 and eight in 2015. But in 2016, Bradd’s career as a Bobcat took off.
He appeared in all 14 games and started in three of them. Bradd recorded 33 tackles, an interception, five pass breakups and six passes defended, the latter of which came at Ohio’s most important moment of the season to that point.
In the final regular season game against Akron, Ohio was one win away from an appearance in the Mid-American Conference Championship Game. But the Zips were driving. A touchdown and an extra point would win them the game and keep the Bobcats out of the conference title game.
On 4th down, a pass to the end zone went in the air. Bradd was there to knock it down.
The pass was intended for Akron wide receiver Austin Wolf, Bradd’s best friend from high school.
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Coach Solich wanted to see Bradd after practice. It was December 2016, after Ohio had just lost to Western Michigan in the MAC Championship Game and was preparing for Troy in the Dollar General Bowl.
Bradd didn’t want to get his hopes up, but his teammates began to. His teammates were right. Bradd was getting put on scholarship.
“I ran from (Walter) to (Peden), grabbed my phone out of my locker and called just about everybody I knew,” Bradd said.
In a career that started off with uncertainty, there wouldn’t be any anymore.
“First, I had to call my parents,” Bradd said. “They’ve helped me through so much and have always supported me. They go to every game.”
Bradd was no longer a walk-on. He once was, but whatever people had to say about him carried no meaning anymore. He was a scholarship player.
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Bradd began this year, his final year, penciled in as the starting cornerback. He hasn’t let that go.
He’s not only become a starter in the secondary, but he’s also become a leader on the defense as well.
“Me and him, we’ve been buds since the time when I came here,” cornerback Jalen Fox said. “Now to see him develop into what he is as a football player, and who he is as a man, it’s an awesome feeling.”
Which made it even more special as Ellis took off down the field in Ypsilanti, Michigan, over the weekend.
“One of the things with Bradd, is he’s a technician, he works on it everyday,” cornerbacks coach De’Angelo Smith said. “He tries to do what I ask of him. It was exciting to see him run down the sideline.”
That’s rubbed off on not only the cornerbacks, but the entire secondary as well.
“We look at Bradd as a leader, because, first of all, his height,” safety Javon Hagan said. “He’s very small, so when team’s look at him on film, they find ways to try and pick on him a bit. They underestimate his ability and his talent.”
Bradd has made a profound impact on the Bobcats secondary, both on and off the field in his career. That made it all the more special when Bradd jumped an out route, something he’d drilled over and over throughout the week, and took off for the end zone.
It was his first college touchdown.
The play not only felt good for Bradd, but also for everyone who has watched him grow from a walk-on to a scholarship player and a starting cornerback at Ohio.
The sideline jumped and yelled as his white No. 3 jersey took off for the end zone, leaving behind anyone who thought he was just another walk-on.
“I caught it, blinders went on, in my head I was thinking, ‘Please, God, I’m not getting tackled right now,' " Bradd recalled. "'There’s no way. I got a left tackle and a QB in front of me.’ I just saw Trent (Smart) who ran off the QB, all I had to do was make one cut.’”
