Elliott’s finishing kick makes him Heisman frontrunner

Ohio State’s style conscious fans will always remember Ezekiel Elliott for the way he made the Eddie George crop top jersey fashionable again last season.

But the greatest tribute he paid George, the Buckeyes’ 1995 Heisman Trophy winner, was not in the way he dressed. It was the way he ran.

And ran.

And ran.

Big Ten Championship Game: 220 yards and two touchdowns against No. 11 Wisconsin.

Sugar Bowl/College Football Playoff semifinal game: 230 yards and two TDs against No. 1 Alabama.

CFP National Championship Game: 246 yards and four touchdowns against Oregon.

Elliott was the MVP of the last two games, earning his way into the pantheon of OSU backs whose first names will suffice. First there was Archie, then there was Eddie and now there is Zeke.

The only thing those other two have that Elliott doesn’t is a Heisman. Or in Archie Griffin’s case, two. But Elliott, coming off a sophomore season in which his 1,878 rushing yards fell just short of George’s single-season school record of 1,927, is the frontrunner in 2015 to join that club, too.

How ironic would that be? A bronze figurine throwing a stiff-arm presented to a player who couldn’t throw a stiff-arm last season because of a left wrist injury.

“This year I think I can further develop my left hand, get it back in my game blocking and running the ball,” Elliott said.

In authoring the first back-to-back-to-back 200-yard rushing games in OSU history, Elliott had to make do without much use of his left hand.

He broke the wrist last year in fall camp, had hardware implanted to secure the joint, then played in all 15 games. But the healing never took, probably because he never gave his wrist time to fully mend. That necessitated more surgery early this year where a bone graft was performed and a new pin implanted.

“My wrist is fine,” Elliott said. “I still have some flexibility issues, but it’s going to come with time.”

Until the 2014 post-season, Elliott had a nice first season as starter, but nothing that indicated the breakout to come. Or that he would make people forget predecessor Carlos Hyde.

There are a few theories on why it happened:

•The offensive line, four-fifths of which was new, matured from an overmatched and outnumbered outfit in the second game loss to Virginia Tech into maybe the best in the country by the end of the season.

•Defenses had to respect the arm strength of quarterback Cardale Jones, a post-season replacement for injured starter J.T. Barrett. Jones’ ability to connect with the deep ball opened up the middle for Elliott.

•And then, of course, there was Elliott, whose ascent to folk hero was fueled by his work ethic.

“I don’t think it was him going from good to great; I think it was people around him raising their level of play,” said offensive tackle Taylor Decker, the only returning starter up front last season. “He’s always been the same guy. He’s always played like that and practiced like that.

“Having four new linemen is rough. You have to develop a chemistry even if you have a bunch of good players. You have to go to battle together. At the end of the year we were all able to click and you were able to see the benefits of everyone around him playing better.”

Coach Urban Meyer agreed that Elliott’s success was a collective effort.

“I think it was a combination of Zeke and the offensive line, too,” Meyer said. “Not disrespecting Zeke, but there were a couple of runs against Wisconsin ... I could have done that. I would have gotten caught, but (the OL was) opening it up.

“(Guard) Billy Price became a legitimate all-conference candidate by the end of the year. At the beginning of the year he wasn’t very good. Taylor Decker went from being very good to a potential high draft pick.

“So I think it was the development of the offensive line and I do believe Zeke got better. His freshman year he was OK, but I didn’t envision him being what he became. That’s all work. He’s the best worker at tailback I’ve ever had.”

It was the “Meyer Factor” according to Elliott’s father, Stacy, that led to Elliott’s emotional decision to attend Ohio State and forsake his home state Missouri Tigers even though both parents were star athletes at the school.

His story, told in a recent ESPN E:60 special, mentioned how Meyer asked Elliott on his first recruiting visit: “What are you going to do when I hand you the Crystal Ball?”

When that moment actually arrived, Elliott kissed it. That image practically went viral.

And now he’s hoping he gets another chance to pucker up. That is, after he plants a few (hundred?) cleats right on the kisser.

“He’s not afraid of contact,” Decker said. “Especially with the wrist last year, he wasn’t going to stiff-arm people. He was just going to run through them. Me being a lineman, I love that physicality.”