'A surreal moment': Kamryn Babb's parents bask after their son caps return with touchdown
Week after week, Kamryn Babb’s parents drove from St. Louis to Columbus or Ohio State's road games to watch him… not play.
The only time his parents – father Ty Babb, stepmom Amanda Babb and mother Alana Templeton – saw Kamryn on the field came as a Buckeye captain for the coin toss.
Except for the 2020 season, in which Babb didn’t catch a pass, his career has been spent on the sidelines because of four ACL surgeries, two on each knee. A different knee injury kept him out of the first nine games this season.
Babb finally made his 2022 debut on Saturday, and it was a storybook one. He caught an 8-yard pass from C.J. Stroud for the final touchdown in Ohio State’s 56-14 rout of Indiana. Teammates mobbed him in the end zone, and the celebration continued on the sideline for Babb, who is the Buckeyes' Block O recipient this year.
Want to keep up with Ohio State? Don't miss a single Buckeyes story. Get a great deal by subscribing to the Dispatch today at www.dispatch.com/subscribenow/.
For his parents, the touchdown was so emotional, they had trouble summoning words to describe it.
“It was a surreal moment,” Ty Babb said as he waited near the Ohio Stadium gate to see his son. “Since high school, we’ve been waiting, hoping to see him out there. And to see the whole team rally around him, that was awesome.”
Babb’s first ACL injury came before his senior season of high school. He had another one every year except for 2020.
Ohio State football:Bottom line: How did the Buckeyes grade out vs. Indiana? How did OSU's offense grade?
“I would say he probably handled it better than the rest of the family did,” Templeton said. “No matter what, he’s never given up. He's always had a goal in mind. People have always said, ‘Oh, you need to transfer. Oh, you need to do this.' When he makes a commitment to do something, that's what he sticks with.”
Babb was the 73rd overall prospect in the 247sports composite rankings for the 2018 recruiting class, ahead of Chris Olave that season. Then came the injuries.
“It’s been hard,” Templeton said. “I’ve literally had to remove myself from Twitter sometimes because people forget that they are human. They see these football players and they forget 1) that they’re kids or young men, and 2) that they have feelings. As a mom, the Mama Bear wants to come out sometimes.
“To know the struggles that he has every day… People see him on Saturday do the coin toss, but they don’t see the hours and hours that he puts in, whether it’s catching extra balls after practice or the hours of rehab while everybody else is getting to practice. Being mom, I see the emotional side that he doesn’t show a lot of people.”
In his postgame press conference, Babb credited his faith as well as support from family and teammates for giving him the strength to persevere.
“I'm just thankful to have family that supported me when I just felt like I couldn't keep going,” he said. “They would always speak life into me, especially my pops. I started playing football because of him, and he's always been there. He's always been the main person that believes I'm the best receiver in the world.
“Having him behind me means so much, and my mom and my whole family and teammates, I couldn't be more thankful just to have as many people as I do around me. Because it's not just about me. It's about everybody else as well.”
Templeton said that Babb’s fourth ACL did test his perseverance.
Lathan Ransom:Safety Lathan Ransom 'all over the place' in Ohio State football win
Ohio State football analysis:Analysis: Ohio State football beats the Indiana Hoosiers
“He was like, ‘Mom, I don’t know that I can do this anymore, going to practice every day and doing hours and hours of rehab and not getting to play,’” she said. “That’s been hard for me to watch.”
At one doctor’s appointment, she even jokingly asked, “Can I give him my knee? It’s not the same, but what do we do? How do we fix this?'”
Babb was finally medically cleared to play before the Northwestern game last week, but the weather conditions and closeness of the game kept him on the sidelines. When Ohio State took a big lead in the fourth quarter, Babb’s time came.
“You don't have words for it because you've been waiting for (so long),” Amanda Babb said. “He hasn't scored a touchdown since his junior year of high school. We were just hoping, No. 1, can he get in the game? Then No. 2, just catch a pass.”
When Babb broke free and caught the touchdown, “Yeah, it was surreal,” she said.
Templeton didn’t see the touchdown. She was so nervous that she paced along the concrete wall near her seat and covered her eyes with her hands when her son entered the game. Only when Templeton heard the roar of the crowd did she realize he’d scored. She didn’t see a replay until Kamryn showed it to her after the game.
“I don’t think it’s quite hit him – the magnitude of it,” Templeton said. “He said it probably wouldn’t hit him until he spent time with God tonight. He said that’s probably when he’s going to realize, ‘Oh, this is what happened.’ ”
It’s a moment they will forever cherish.
“It’s been tough. It has," Ty Babb said of his son's long road to Saturday. “But it’s been worth it.”
Get more Ohio State football news by listening to our podcasts
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Kamryn Babb scored his first TD for Ohio State. His parents were there
