Bishop Watterson football flying high in part thanks to the Uhlenhake family

Unlike most casual observers at football games, Jeff Uhlenhake focuses his attention on Bishop Watterson’s offensive linemen instead of letting his eyes follow the ball.

The third-year Watterson assistant offensive line coach and former NFL star center has had a more difficult time doing that this season, however, as his sons Jake and Ben are emerging as key skill players for the Eagles.

Jake, a junior wide receiver, has developed into Watterson’s top deep threat, with a team-high 47 receptions for 824 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Ben, a freshman running back, has recently moved into Watterson’s starting lineup, where he rushed for a team-best three touchdowns and 49 yards on six carries to lead the Eagles to a 44-7 victory over Miami Trace in a Division III, Region 11 quarterfinal at Ohio Dominican University On Nov. 3.

With the Uhlenhake brothers helping to lead the way, Watterson -– which is seeded first in Region 11 – is 11-1 overall and will face fifth-seeded Bloom-Carroll in a regional semifinal on Friday, Nov. 10 at Ashville Teays Valley Viking Stadium.

“I have to watch the offensive line from the press box, and not my sons, and that’s no longer easy to do, because they’re getting the ball more,” said Jeff, who played in the NFL for three different teams over 10 seasons and was a four-year starter at Ohio State University. “Ben scored three times, and Jake had a long touchdown catch in our latest game, and that was neat to see them have those opportunities and make the most of them. It’s an exciting time for my wife (Angie) and I.”

Many people assumed that Jake and Ben would follow in their father’s footsteps to become elite offensive linemen, but Jeff and Angie always encouraged all three of their children – including their daughter Allie -– to chase their own dreams.

“They’re their own individuals and we never pushed them to play football, to put extra pressure on themselves or feel like they have to live up to anything that I did,” said Jeff, who played football, basketball and baseball at Newark Catholic before graduating in 1984. “My wife’s very athletic, and she played college basketball (at Ohio Dominican), and so they are blessed with her genetics, too.

“My sons aren’t as tall as me (6-foot-4), and they are leaner and probably a little faster than I was at their age, so they are playing positions that they enjoy doing, instead of playing on the line just because I did. They are also setting their own stage by developing into much better baseball players than I ever was.”

Jake has traveled a long and winding road en route to developing into Watterson’s leading wide receiver, and was named first-team all-district this season. The 6-1, 185-pound junior played quarterback from fifth grade through his freshman season at Watterson before converting into a wide receiver as a sophomore.

“I loved playing quarterback, but moving to wide receiver was the best thing to do for my team and a way for me to get on the field more, so I was happy to do it,” Jake said.

But Jake suffered a broken right collarbone after landing awkwardly on his right arm while making a catch during a summer practice which forced him to miss the Eagles’ first six games last season.

Jake returned in time to play in Watterson’s 25-24 victory at Granville, but he was injured while drawing a pass interference penalty on a fourth-and-20 play with less than two minutes remaining, which helped keep the Eagles’ final drive alive and set up their game-winning touchdown and two-point conversion.

But Jake’s collarbone was broken once again when he was shoved to the ground by a defensive back during that play, which caused him to sit out Watterson’s final three regular season games and first three playoff games.

Jake did return in time to make one short catch in limited action in the Eagles’ 33-28 loss to Bloom-Carroll in the Region 11 final, as Watterson finished 12-2 overall.

“My collarbone hurt a lot and I was wondering how this could happen to me twice in one season,” Jake said. “I have been kind of injury prone over the years, so I knew I had to get in the weight room and eat more to get stronger to help myself stay healthy this year.”

Jake worked relentlessly to gain 10 pounds of muscle and bulk up to as much as 192 pounds during the offseason, and he’s also become quicker and more explosive this year.

“We were super-excited to see what Jake could do last year, but unfortunately his injuries limited him to only one full game,” Watterson coach Brian Kennedy said. “Jake’s come back even stronger and faster this year, and he’s clearly become our primary target.

“To his credit, he’s seen just about every type of coverage with teams doubling him, and he still seems like he finds a way to get open every play and make catches. Jake’s very smooth in space. It appears as if he kind of glides across the field a little bit.”

Ben played running back for his first three seasons of tackle football before switching to center for two seasons and then back to running back this fall.

“I definitely didn’t love playing center, but that’s where my team needed me, so I did it,” Ben said. “I’m glad to be back running the ball this year.”

Ben missed Watterson’s first two games this season with a calf injury and then mostly played special teams throughout the majority of the regular season, before gradually gaining more carries on the Eagles’ varsity squad late in the season.

The 5-foot-11, 185-pound freshman scored his first varsity touchdown during Watterson’s 48-13 win at Harrison on Oct. 13, and he scored again in the Eagles’ playoff-opening home victory over Columbus South on Oct. 27, before exploding for three touchdowns against Miami Trace.

“Ben’s way too talented at running back to be on our offensive line, so we knew he was going to eventually be able to help us running the ball,” Kennedy said. “Ben got banged up in the summer, but he’s played well as he’s gotten healthier, and he was the right fit to run the ball for us after we had some injuries. Ben’s a good athlete and his future looks bright.

“The Uhlenhake’s are a great family. Both Jake and Ben are super athletic and I think they got a lot of that from their mom. And we’re really fortunate to have Jeff helping coach here, because he makes our program better.”

Both Jake and Ben credit their father with teaching them the basics and finer points of playing football and working out.

“We’ve grown up around football our entire lives, and most of what we know about the game and how to play it comes from our dad,” Jake said. “He doesn’t talk about his accomplishments very much, so I didn’t really comprehend until a few years ago that he was once one of the best centers in the world.”

While growing up in Beechwold, Jeff always thought he would play football at Watterson, but his parents bought a campground and canoe livery outside of Columbus, and his family suddenly moved before his freshman year.

Thus, Jeff instead played at Newark Catholic, which advanced to a state final each of his four seasons there, capturing a Division V title during his junior season in 1982.

After being recruited to play football at Ohio State by coach Earle Bruce, Jeff took a redshirt in 1984 before starting at left guard for the Buckeyes as they went 9-3 in 1985 and 10-3 the following year.

With Jeff starting at center, the Buckeyes went 6-4-1 during Bruce’s final season in 1987.

Ohio State went 4-6-1 under first-year coach John Cooper the following season, but Jeff played well while serving as a team captain, earning All-American honors and being voted Team MVP by his teammates.

After being selected in the fifth round of the 1989 NFL draft by the Miami Dolphins, Jeff was the starting center for future NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino for five seasons, before playing for the New Orleans Saints (1994-95) and the Washington Redskins (1996-98).

“I was known as a guy who made the right calls to get the right guys blocked properly, and Dan (Marino) trusted me even as a rookie,” Jeff said. “I had a good career and my only regret is not playing in a Super Bowl. We were close one year (1992) when we got to play the Buffalo Bills in an AFC championship game at home, but they beat our butts (29-10).”

During his career, Jeff had the opportunity to meet and hang out with several iconic athletes, including Michael Jordan, Frank Thomas, Larry Bird and John Daly. He also rubbed elbows with actors such as Lee Majors and Matthew McConaughey, and musicians like Faith Hill, Jimmy Buffett and members of Hootie & The Blowfish.

“I was always a bit of a homebody, who was focused on doing my job well, but it was neat to be around those guys,” Jeff said.

Jeff also appeared with Marino in Isotoner Gloves commercials.

But Jeff is best remembered by some film fans for making a cameo alongside Jim Carrey during a bathroom scene in the 1994 hit comedy film "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective."

“So much goes into filming a movie, and it took a whole day just to do my 20-second part in Ace Ventura,” Jeff said. “It was Jim Carrey’s first big movie and no one knew how it was going to go. Then all of the sudden, kids would recognize me in the airport from that movie instead of for playing football.”

After retiring from professional football, Jeff returned to Ohio for a brief stint as a head football coach and athletics director at Sidney Lehman High School, before serving as Ohio State’s offensive quality control coach under Jim Tressel in 2003.

Jeff worked as an offensive line coach at the University of Cincinnati in 2004, before serving as an offensive line coach for the Cleveland Browns for two seasons.

In 2007, Tressel hired Jeff to work as an assistant strength coach for the Buckeyes, which he did for 12 seasons, including Ohio State’s national championship season in 2014.

Jeff then was the Ohio State women’s lacrosse team’s strength coach for one year, before retiring in 2020 to focus on his duties as owner of the TNT Supreme Clean car wash in Tipp City, Ohio.

“Our kids have been afforded some great opportunities during the time that I coached at Ohio State,” Jeff said. “They have had the opportunity to rub elbows with a lot of the great players there, like Dwayne Haskins and J.K. Dobbins. In kindergarten, they each brought in a player to read to their class. For Jake it was Drew Basil, for Ben it was Ezekiel Elliott and for Allie it was J.T. Barrett.

“They also got to go to practices at Ohio State and see how efficient and intense they were, to see what it takes to play at that level.”

Jeff was inducted into the Ohio State Varsity “O” Hall of Fame in 2008.

“We are a sports family and the kids were exposed to sports from a young age,” said Angie, who works as a realtor. “Jake attended his first Ohio State game when was 17 months old at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans when the Buckeyes played LSU in the national championship game. He was hooked.

“Ben made a brief appearance at a Buckeye game when he was around eight weeks old when Jeff was being inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame.”

Angie, who was a star basketball and soccer player at Miami East High School, has played a big role in coaching all three of her children as well.

She coached Jake and Ben in T-ball, soccer and basketball from their youth through sixth grade, and she currently coaches Allie’s seventh-grade basketball team.

Angie, who was an assistant coach for the 2000 18U AAU national champion Ohio United basketball squad, said she and Jeff have five family rules for sports. They teach their children to have fun, play hard, not hesitate, be a good teammate and listen to their coaches.

“Sometimes I feel like we live in a glorified frat house,” Angie said. “In the offseason, I’ll just be getting ready to settle down for the night and the next thing I know, music is blaring from the basement and the sound of weights crashing reverberates through the house. It’s nice to have Allie in the house to soften things a bit and keep us laughing.”

Jake and Ben both said they appreciate the support they’ve received from their entire family, coaches and teammates, and that they going to do their best to help the Eagles continue to soar further in the playoffs.

“We definitely had a spoiled childhood, being able to go to some many big games and meet so many football players and coaches,” Jake said. “We have a lot of great teammates and coaches at Watterson, and we couldn’t have done any of this without them. We just want to do what we can to help our team keep winning.”

The Uhlenhake brothers also both hope to follow in their parents’ footsteps by eventually continuing to play either baseball or football at the college level.

“Growing up with my dad coaching us and working out with us our entire lives, it was easy to fall in love with football,” Ben said. “Getting to go to Ohio State games and their practice facilities ever since we were little, we could see how they eat, train and practice, and that just drives me to worker harder because I want to try to get to where they are.”

In the meantime, Jake and Ben are savoring the opportunity to play varsity football together.

“My brother and I have been playing football in our backyard together as far back as I can remember, so this is definitely a dream come true,” Jake said. “To have my brother on the field with me, our dad helping to coach our team, and our mom, sister and (other family members) in the stands cheering for us is something special for all of us.”