Skills camp opens Buckeyes practice to those with special needs
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Derek Kirksey was ready to rock Ohio State’s special skills camp.
“Have you planned a touchdown dance?” I asked him shortly after we met on the practice fields of The Woody Hayes Athletic Center.
“Yes!” he exclaimed with a sparkle in his eye.
“You’ve planned once?” his mother, Ginita, asked, completely surprised while standing with him.
“Yes.”
“What is it?” she pried.
“You’ll see!” Derek said with confidence and a bit of sass.
“Oh! Okay!” Ginita said through laughter.
Derek locked his eyes on the players and coaches during warm up. The 28-year-old mimicked their hand motions, yells, grunts and claps with unwavering attention.
“Who are you most excited to play with?” I asked him once the warmup was over.
“Ohio State!” he replied with a mega-watt smile.
“All of them?” his mother, Ginita, asked standing next to him.
“All of them,” Derek replied adamantly.
And they were all there. Ohio State’s full football team showed up for this year’s Special Skills Camp, an annual day where the players spend time going through drills and getting to know special needs campers.
Some caught touchdown passes from quarterbacks Julian Sayin and Lincoln Keinholz. Others took handoffs from running back James Peoples, and then blasted through a line of volunteers and players holding blocking pads.
Still, with all these future NFL players, reigning national champions and potential all-Americans on the field, Derek was giddy to see only one member of the Buckeyes.
"Who is helping out here?" Ginita asked him.
“Caden!” Derek yelled out.
Which Caden though? Defensive lineman Kayden McDonald, who is expected to have a breakout year? Or Caden Curry, who had some of the biggest plays on special teams last season?
“Cox!” Derek exclaimed when I asked him which Caden he wanted to see.
“Caden Cox,” Ginita said like it was clear and obvious who that is.
And for anyone on Ohio State’s team, it is clear and obvious who Caden Cox is.
"Look at this guy!” offensive lineman Carson Hinzman yelled out at a short young man sporting a red Ohio State t-shirt with a stopwatch around his neck. “He's begging for the camera to be on him! Every now and then ,he's flipping his hat around like he's flipping a switch!”
Cox is an intern with Ohio State football’s strength and conditioning team. He also has Down’s syndrome.
"I think they are winning fit!" he said while flexing. Hinzman, behind him, laughed and applauded Cox’s swagger. “I train them guys in the weight room and get ready to beat Texas."
Cox followed that statement by flashing the horns down hand signal.
"We’ll be going for like max squat – we had max deadlifts today, we had max bench, stuff like that,” Hinzman said, adding that the coach the players work hardest for is Caden. “He'll come up and he'll get you, right? It’s been awesome having him around. Any time he's in the weight room, like, everyone is hitting the handshakes with him and stuff like that. He’s getting people right. He actually does have some pretty good coaching tips sometimes, so it's pretty fun for him to get in there and interact with us, all the guys. We love on him and stuff like that, so it’s been a good experience overall.”
Cox had been to the special skills camp before; only this time, he was there as part of the Buckeyes.
“And see my friends out here and in support of them at skills camp,” he said after getting a big hug from Derek.
And making sure that Derek got to hit that touchdown dance: a solid Heisman pose that had Peoples hooting and hollering alongside.
"That gives him the opportunity to actually see, you know, to that experience with a college football team,” Ginita said while watching her son. “It's wonderful."