Devin Barclay

Just two weeks before kicking the winning field goal in overtime against Iowa that earned Ohio State at least a share of the Big Ten championship and a trip to the Rose Bowl, even the most ardent Buckeye fan didn’t know who Devin Barclay was.

For three seasons now, Barclay has been toiling in obscurity as a walk-on place kicker who has worked his way up to being the backup to Aaron Pettrey this season.

Unfortunately, it was an injury to Pettrey against New Mexico State that allowed Barclay, a former soccer player in the MLS, the chance to be everyone’s favorite Buckeye player for at least a day. On the fourth play of Ohio State’s lone possession in the first overtime period, Barclay kicked a 39-yard field goal that set the Ohio Stadium crowd in a frenzy.

“It’s unbelievable. I’m pretty speechless,” said Barclay, who was surrounded by reporters in the interview room not long after kicking the game-winning field goal. “We definitely made it interesting in the fourth quarter but I’m just glad that we came out (on top) and we’re going to the Rose Bowl. I’m really excited. It’s really a great feeling.”

Earlier in the game, Barclay missed a 47-yard field goal that could have possibly prevented the Buckeyes from having to go to an overtime period.

So he welcomed another chance at it.

“Yeah, absolutely. I wanted to send the seniors off in style, I just made it a little more interesting,” Barclay said. “Ideally that situation could have been avoided but, it’s kind of like, a kicker’s mentality is how you respond to those adverse situations so I tried to just focus on swinging easy and just concentrate on what I know I can do.”

And yes Barkley was a tad bit nervous when the opportunity presented itself in the extra period.

“Yes, absolutely,” Barclay said. “But I had Aaron there in my ear telling me, ‘You know you can do this.’ Honestly, he’s a great friend and a team player. He was there telling me ‘just swing easy’ and then ‘you’re very capable of this.’ So that’s pretty much it.”

Barkley didn’t say anything different to himself, after missing his second kick of the game wide to the left, as he lined-up the potentially game-winning kick.

“Nope, I just tried to swing easy and do the opposite of what I did on my 47-yarder, which is follow through down my line and just swing easy,” said Barclay, who connected on a 30-yard field goal earlier in the game. “I knew what the stakes were and I just wanted to make sure I got it right that third time.”

And when he nailed the kick in overtime, Barclay celebrated just like a soccer player who kicked a game-winning goal.

“I didn’t even think about it actually. I just took off running and apparently I took my helmet off so I guess that’s pretty sweet,” said Barclay, who admitted that he didn’t ever really celebrate to that extent after scoring a goal in his life. “I didn’t really think about it. I just knew that we were going (to the Rose Bowl) and we won the game.”

A five-year veteran of the MLS from Annapolis, Md., the 26-year-old Barclay was finally rewarded for his patience.

“It’s been two years now, or three years -- this is my third year on the team -- and I was kind of thrust into it unexpectedly against New Mexico State with Aaron’s injury, and the feeling is unbelievable,” said Barclay said. “All of the hard work and all of the 6 a.m. workouts and all of the time spent at the facility is absolutely worthwhile. It was a wonderful experience and I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.”

He certainly was celebrating like any other 20- or 21-year-old junior who kicked a game-winning field goal to put his team in the Rose Bowl would.

“I’m not that old,” he said with a chuckle. “But really, yeah I did. It was great. And to share it with the seniors on their senior day and the guys who fought for 60 minutes was unbelievable.”

“There are nerves in those situations and I just had to concentrate on and remember all of the little things that we work on every week which are technique-type stuff and just concentrate on that. And everything will take care of itself from there if I do all of the right things.”

And so he prepared himself to attempt the big kick as he saw the game heading in that direction late in the fourth period and into the overtime session.

“I saw it unfolding and I saw it kind of unfold under that path and I knew that I had an opportunity to redeem myself after the fourth quarter (miss) ,” he said, “and I definitely wanted to get that one right.”

So when the much anticipated chance came to fruition, Barclay knew he made good on the attempt as soon as he struck the ball with his foot.

“I knew right when I hit it that it was good a good kick,” he said. “So I pretty much didn’t even wait to see if it went in. I knew when it was staying straight and had the distance and that was it.”

And he was off to the races to celebrate with his teammates in wild pursuit.

“I didn’t really know what to do,” Barclay said. “I’m pretty speechless about how I felt. It was absolutely the best feeling in my life. It was an amazing feeling.”

As a result of the melee, Barclay’s name was missing from the back of his jersey.

“Actually we got a hold of that … somehow,” he said. “I don’t know how. Somebody got it. It just got ripped off.”

And for his effort, in the end he received a rose.

“I got a rose but I don’t think I have it with me any more,” Barclay said. “I think it got ripped out of my hands at some point.”

Nothing that Barclay experienced in the soccer world could ever compare to what he experienced in the Iowa game.

“Nothing that really comes close to this, playing in front of 110,000 fans going into overtime. There’s nothing that comes close,” Barclay said. “There’s different experiences in soccer that I’ll always cherish but nothing like this.”

The fact that Barclay even had an opportunity to attempt a field goal of such magnitude was almost hard to fathom not too long ago. Pettrey was 13 for 19 on his field goal attempts and connected on 28 of 29 PAT attempts before his untimely injury.

“It’s an unbelievable opportunity,” Barclay said. “Like I said I was thrust into it a couple of weeks ago and it became very real. You always prepare, because you never know if you’re going to get a kick if the kicker goes down, but not to the extent where it was ‘whoa, he’s down,’ it’s time for me to get myself ready to go.

“And Aaron is one of my closest friends and he’s been such a supportive guy and it shows his character. He’s always over there talking to me, he comes to practices now, he’s doing his rehab, he’ going to make a fast recovery. He’s an unbelievable kicker and a great guy more importantly. He’s a great friend.”

Pettrey had told Barclay that he was going to have a chance to be the hero when he was on the sideline prior to hitting the clutch field goal.

“I knew that he knows what he’s talking about and I realized when it was in overtime, the way that overtime is structured, that yeah it’s very much a chance for me to be the hero,” Barclay said. “So when I heard that I obviously just had to concentrate on doing all of the little things and just concentrate on my technique.”

Before Pettrey was sidelined for the balance of the season, Barclay never imagined himself being in such a crucial situation.

“I never saw this coming, no,” Barclay said. “I was expecting to get a chance my senior year but obviously things don’t always go that way and you get opportunities if there’s injuries. But no I couldn’t have ever seen this coming and you never want or hope for any injuries but they happen, and they’re a reality in football. So I knew that going in I was going to be second-string so I knew that there was always that possibility.”

Barclay converted his first collegiate field goal from 29 yards against New Mexico State and then he hit one from 37 yards against Penn State. After making good on a 30-yard attempt in the second quarter against the Hawkeyes, was Barclay hoping for anything shorter in distance on his last two attempts in the Iowa game?

“You always want those nice little chip-shots don’t you?” Barclay said. “But 40-yards (actually 39), 47-yards it’s all the same swing really. And that’s the biggest thing that you got to go into it with, with that mind frame.”

And as he was sitting in the interview room being interviewed, Barclay claimed that he hadn’t yet pinched himself.

“No I’m still kind of on Cloud 9 and I can’t really describe how I’m feeling other than like complete, umm, I mean I’m still kind of in shock to honest with you,” Barclay said. “And I’m just glad that we won.”

The last two weeks have been somewhat of whirlwind for Barclay when you get right down to it.

“It’s been a real amazing experience. I can’t really describe it,” Barclay said. “I’ve had my family’s support and my dad and mom came out for the game. It’s the same situation, it’s just on a much bigger scale now. I just got to go into it with that mind frame that it’s just on a much bigger scale.”

Of course, Barclay had a talk with Pettrey after the game.

“I gave him a big hug because he was there talking to me the whole time and keeping me calm,” Barclay said. “And he’s just being a coach at that point, because he’s over there being supportive to me.”

Being a victim of injuries himself during his MLS career, Barclay could certainly empathize with Pettrey not having an opportunity to kick such an important field goal himself.

“I feel for him. I had my career cut short, my soccer career cut short, because of injuries and I know that it’s very real and it’s tough,” said Barclay who sustained some fractures and had shoulder surgeries in his soccer career. “But I know he’ll make a swift recovery and I also know that with his character that this is just going to make him stronger in the long run.”

Barclay is speaking from experience. His soccer injuries obviously made him a stronger person in the long run and it was one of the things that actually prompted him to even try football.

“It was just a lot of different things,” said Barclay who gave credit to former Buckeye kickers Dan Stultz and Vlade Janakievski for helping him with his leg swing and his motion. “With a lot of my injuries, I wasn’t able to run for 90 minutes any more but I still had my leg swing and the power in my leg. And then I tried kicking field goals and I was pretty good at it.”

And eventually Barclay became good enough at it to earn the trust of the OSU coaching staff when it was time to call upon him. Jim Tressel certainly had confidence in his backup kicker against Iowa and after their three offensive plays netted just three yards in their overtime possession, after Ohio State’s defense kept the Hawkeyes off the board on their first possession, it was indeed Barclay’s chance to be the hero.

“We did have confidence in him,” Tressel proclaimed in his postgame press conference. “We weren’t going to line up and kick on first down because we thought we could move forward and then we didn’t move real far forward. But we got it centered back up for him and he nailed it through. I was confident he was going to.”

And the rest is history. With one big kick, Barclay helped Ohio State earn at least a share of their fifth consecutive Big Ten championship and a trip to the Rose Bowl.

“It’s definitely unbelievable and we have the best fans in the country. And you can see them stay behind the team,” Barclay said. “But no it hasn’t sunk in yet. But it will and it’s all an unbelievable experience and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

And if the rush on the field by the players toward Barclay after he made the kick is any indication, his teammates were definitely happy for him.

“For a guy like Devin, making the game-winning field goal is something he’ll never forget,” Jake Ballard said. “He played in the MSL for a while and he’s been through a lot of things and for him to step in when (Aaron) Pettrey went down and do the job he’s done is something very special.”

It’s definitely a kick he’ll never, ever forget. And it couldn’t have happened at a bigger time.

“Unbelievable. It was just a lot of joy,” Barclay said. “All of the hard work and everything I went through with these guys for pretty much all year…we were working towards this and I’m just so grateful to have these guys with me to experience the whole thing because it wasn’t just me who felt that way. Everybody felt that for everybody because we got a chance to go to the Rose Bowl and together we all did it. So it wasn’t me, I just was so happy that I could send these guys off the right way.”