Shawnee grad McCrory helps lead Bobcats to MAC championship game

Jack’s brother Alex McCrory was one of the key players on Shawnee’s state runner-up team that season, and Jack was a ballboy on the sidelines. Jack experienced the 21-14 state championship loss to Youngstown Cardinal Mooney. He would later play in big games himself at Shawnee, though the Braves didn’t reach the playoffs during his four years (2014-17).

Jack has also played in big games in the last five seasons with the Ohio Bobcats — but none as big as the game at noon Saturday at Ford Field in Detroit. Ohio will play Toledo in the Mid-American Conference championship game and will seek its first MAC title in 54 years.

“It’s been since 1968 since the Bobbies have won a MAC championship,” McCrory said Tuesday. “That’s entirely too long.”

Ohio finished 10-1 in 1968, losing only to Richmond in the Tangerine Bowl. It wouldn’t play in another bowl game until the 2006 GMAC Bowl, and that was also the season it played in the MAC championship game for the first of four times in the tenure of coach Frank Solich.

Ohio lost 31-10 to Central Michigan in 2006, 20-10 to Central Michigan in 2009, 23-20 to Northern Illinois in 2011 (on the same night Shawnee lost to Cardinal Mooney) and 29-23 to Western Michigan in 2016. Of the 12 current MAC programs, only Ohio, Kent State and Eastern Michigan haven’t won the MAC championship game since it was first played in 1997.

McCrory, a fifth-year senior who starts at defensive end, signed with Ohio in December of 2017. His college career began the following fall. He has not experienced a MAC championship game but is well aware of Ohio’s history.

“It’s a motivating factor,” McCrory said. “They bring it up, that we haven’t done this for so long. It’s an opportunity that really could change the history at Ohio forever.”

First-year defensive coordinator Spence Nowinsky, who was at Miami when the RedHawks won the MAC championship in 2019, reminds the players what a championship would mean for their legacy.

“Just imagine you guys winning the MAC championship in 2022,” Nowinsky told them. “Your names will be on the walls. You’ll be in the history books at Ohio because it hasn’t been done for so long.”

McCrory, who was named to the All-MAC third team on Wednesday, will play a big role in any result Saturday. He ranks fourth on the team in tackles with 51 and second in sacks with four. He’s tied for the team lead in quarterback hurries with seven, leads the team with four forced fumbles and is tied for the team lead with two fumble recoveries.

McCrory returned a fumble 13 yards for a touchdown in a 54-34 victory against Akron on Oct. 8. That’s the day Ohio turned its season around after starting the MAC schedule the previous week with a 31-24 loss at Kent State. Ohio takes a seven-game winning streak to Detroit.

The defense has been much improved. It allowed 30 or more points in its first six games and has not allowed more than 24 in its last six games. Fordham scored 52 points against Ohio on Sept. 24 but lost by seven at Peden Stadium.

“That was a terrible game for us defensively,” McCrory said. “That was a learning moment. It was early in the year. We had everything in front of us. It kind of humbled us a little bit, and I think it changed our preparation a little bit for the following weeks because we were going into MAC play at that point. Our goal was to be at our highest level by MAC play and then obviously continue to get better each week. Obviously, the Kent State game didn’t go our way, but that was the goal at that point.”

McCrory appeared in all 28 games in the past three seasons — including three in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season — after seeing action in three as a freshman in 2018. He played linebacker in his first four seasons but switched to the defensive line in the spring.

“To be honest, it wasn’t really my decision,” McCrory said. “It was more of a decision by our defensive end coach and our new defensive coordinator (Nowinsky). He liked some of my speed on the edge, and he knew I was capable of being one of the starting 11. He just felt maybe being a Mike or Will linebacker wasn’t the best spot for me. He transitioned me to (defensive end) in the middle of spring ball after week two, so I really only had two weeks in spring ball and a full fall camp. It was an easier transition for me. Being at Mike or Will linebacker, it’s a lot more of a mental game than a physical game, in my opinion. The transition to end was more about the physical game than the mental game. So I was able to just lock in on the technique and fundamentals of being at the end, and I love the position. I wish I was there sooner.”

Ohio finished 9-4 in McCrory’s freshman season, 7-6 in his sophomore season and 2-1 in 2020. After Solich retired in July 2021, offensive coordinator Tim Albin was promoted to head coach. The Bobcats slipped to 3-9, their worst mark since 2003 (2-10), in Albin’s first season.

This season has been a different story. The Bobcats are one victory away from their second 10-win season since the MAC championship season of 1968.

“Solich ingrained a lot of the culture and values that we still adopt today,” McCrory said. “When Albin took over, it didn’t really feel like many things changed. Obviously, Solich has that legendary feel to him. Just him walking around campus or when he shows up to a game this year, it feels like there’s a legend around you. Coach Albin has been a great coach to take over. He was placed in a tough position at the end of last summer. Obviously, you can’t blame that for a bad season necessarily, but at the same time, it’s a tough position. But we had a full offseason with him and with a new defensive coordinator and safeties coach (Wittenberg graduate John Hauser). They really have helped us out tremendously.”