This Corner is in the Center

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Plummer knows OSU defense starts with cornerbacks

BY JOHN ERARDI
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Even grade school kids don't ask Ahmed Plummer about his Sugar Bowl interception last year against Florida State. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

Former Wyoming High School football star Ahmed Plummer knows the scrutiny that comes with being a football player at Ohio State.

Scrutiny that comes even from grade school kids.

"We had a football camp for youngsters here in Columbus this summer," he said. "I attended with some teammates. The question the kids asked most was 'Why can't you beat Michigan?' "

Plummer laughed at the memory.

"You know how kids are. They're honest. They're going to ask you exactly what's on their mind."

If the Buckeyes expect to live up to their preseason No. 1 billing, they're going to have to beat Michigan . . . and everybody else on their schedule.

For that to happen, the OSU defense must be stifling. As a starting cornerback, Plummer is an integral part of the defense.

Here's how one preseason prognosticator put it:

"If current cornerbacks Antoine Winfield, the 1997 team MVP and leading tackler, and Ahmed Plummer can go man-to-man on opposing wide receivers, look for Ohio State to turn up the pressure on passers and force a lot more turnovers than the 46 of a year ago."

"The coaches have confidence in (the cornerbacks)," All-Big Ten free safety Damon Moore said. "They can let the linebackers, D-line and the safeties fly and leave 'Twan and Ahmed out on an island."

"Being out there alone comes with the turf," Plummer said. "You start out the game running backwards . . . and you run backwards every play. You don't know what the wide receivers are going to do. You just react to it."

It also goes with the turf that if an Ohio State opponent scores a long touchdown, it is a defensive back who will get the blame -- if not all of it, then most of it.

"When anybody scores a long touchdown, there's always a defensive back in the (TV) picture running for his life," said Plummer, smiling. "You know who's going to get the blame in that situation. Five or six (defensive) guys might have missed tackles, or somebody blew a coverage or missed an assignment, but people blame the DB."

Plummer has a wonderful sense of humor . . . and of self. Besides being a good student, he is active in his church, the Columbus Christian Center, where he works in ministry and maintenance.

He has spoken at numerous youth rallies. One of his messages is "pride goeth before a fall."

"One of my jobs at the church is to clean up after little kids after they've had an 'accident,' " Plummer said. "It keeps you humble, and that's good. As soon as people lose their humility, they get knocked down. You see that a lot with athletes."

People often ask Plummer how he has time to be active in the church and to devote so much time to his studies, as well as being a starting cornerback at one of the great football universities.

"I don't know any other way," he answered. "My mother (Babette) raised me and my brother by herself. During the day, she worked (outside the home) and at night, after cooking and cleaning, she'd be up late studying. When you've been around that your whole life, there's nothing else you can do. I get my work ethic from my mom."

The Plummer boys were raised in Bond Hill and later moved to Wyoming. Mrs. Plummer now lives in Colerain Township.

Her "studying" was for her doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of Cincinnati. By day, she worked in a variety of clinical settings, sometimes two at a time -- Children's Hospital, Rollman's, the Lewis Center, the Court Psychiatric Center -- to make ends meet.

Today, she is a clinical psychologist at the Veterans Hospital.

Ahmed likes telling stories about how his mother became a devoted, knowledgeable football fan. It wasn't always that way. When Mrs. Plummer first began attending football games at Miami University in Oxford to watch Ahmed's older brother, Cleon, play cornerback, she would occasionally cheer at the wrong time.

Mrs. Plummer laughs at the memory.

"A woman sitting next to me said, 'You don't know the game, do you?' I said I didn't. She said, 'Let me explain what's happening.' She was very patient. Now, I cheer at the right time."

And sometimes, she "cheers" silently.

"There isn't a day that goes by that I don't thank the good Lord for both my sons," she said.

She has no doubt Ahmed will do well in school and in the business world, even if football were to end tomorrow.

"It all goes back to his faith in the Lord," she said.

Plummer has given his life over to Christ.

"I've truly given it over," he said. "I got to a point in my career at Ohio State that I was at a low point. I had kind of fallen away from God. All I could do is look to Him and ask for help."

Since then, Plummer has experienced inner peace as a student, as a public speaker testifying to his faith and as a football player confident in his abilities.

"Five or six guys from the team have joined my church," he said. "The Lord is at work on this football team."