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Salpointe grad Ransom discusses Tucson background with media ahead of national championship



Lathan Ransom during his senior season at Salpointe in 2019 (Andy Morales/AllSportsTucson.com)

During Saturday’s media session of the national championship game between Ohio State and Notre Dame, Salpointe Class of 2020 graduate Lathan Ransom — a fifth-year senior strong safety with the Buckeyes — talked about his football upbringing in Tucson and how much his dad pushed him to succeed.

Ransom will be on the field for the last time in his college career Monday night in the title game at 5:30 p.m., Tucson time (ESPN).

His last game with Salpointe and Bijan Robinson was a 2019 Open Division semifinal game the Lancers lost to Chandler at Chandler Hamilton. Ransom posted big numbers as a receiver in that game, hauling in five passes from Treyson Bourguet for 105 yards.

Ransom said the toughness from his dad Nathan, who coached him with the Tucson Youth Football League’s Vikings and Falcons, has impacted him throughout his career — and that has included overcoming injuries at Ohio State. The elder Ransom has served as captain of the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base Fire Department.

“I feel like I’ve been a physical dude since I was a little kid,” the younger Ransom told reporters. “My dad made sure that I wasn’t soft since I was really young. So I think I just try to keep that on my shoulder and always keep a chip on my shoulder.”

Lathan was also coached in youth basketball by his mother Linda, who is associated with some toughness of her own.

Linda has indicated in previous interviews with AllSportsTucson.com that she had a strict upbringing by her father Javier Blanco, who retired as a master sergeant at Davis-Monthan. Blanco was a four-sport star at Sahuarita as a senior in 1974, including baseball in which he led the Mustangs to their first state title.

Linda became a legendary basketball player at the school. She and her father were enshrined into the Sahuarita High School Hall of Fame in 2004 when Lathan was only 2. Linda remains the school’s career leader — in boys and girls basketball — with 1,383 career points. She holds the single-season record with 441 points as well as the steals and assists records almost a quarter-century after her career ended there. She went on to play at Pima College.

Lathan’s father emerged as a running back in his high school league near Los Angeles. He played at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, Calif., before embarking on a military career.

Lathan mentioned to the media Saturday that his father had him go through Oklahoma drills, in which he faced off with another player until one fell, as a teaching tool if he missed a tackle.

“If I ever lost a hit or missed a tackle, I’m going back up again and again and again,” Ransom said. “First of all, he made me a competitor, made me a fierce competitor – but made sure that I was always the one delivering the blow and made sure that he explained to me at a young age that, because I was smaller when I first started, that to not be scared because if you go there as fast as he goes there, 90 percent of the time you’re going to win.

“And you go there fearless, 90 percent of the time you’re going to win. So that’s been ingrained in my head, man, to always play fast, always run and hit fearless.”

Salpointe graduate Lathan Ransom when he returned a fumble 27 yards for a touchdown in Ohio State’s win over Akron in the season opener; he’s back to wearing No. 8 as he did with the Lancers after beginning his Buckeye career wearing No. 12 (Ohio State photo)

The grit he developed in his formative years helped him endure COVID-19’s impact on the schedule in 2020, a broken leg during a special-teams play in the Rose Bowl that concluded the 2021 season and a broken thumb during the 2022 season.

He also missed the last five games of last season with a Lisfranc tear in his foot.

The bouts with injuries forced him to continuously prove that he can return stronger than before. He mentioned that he has felt the need to prove himself dating back to his days in Tucson.

“I appreciate Ohio State for recruiting me as a dude from Tucson, Arizona,” Ransom said. “But I just feel that, growing up, there was always people seeing other players over me. There was always people that never rated me the highest, always people that thought other dudes were better than me.

“And I feel like I never forgot that. I never forgot that. Always had a chip on my shoulder. Just always remembering being overseen, never getting the appreciation I feel like that I deserve.”

Lathan Ransom during his Tucson Youth Football days (Andy Morales/AllSportsTucson.com)

Ransom is experiencing his best season at Ohio State, symbolic of his fortitude through all the challenges he has faced with his injuries. He has 73 tackles (nine for loss) with a sack, an interception and three forced fumbles.

ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit mentioned during a segment Sunday on ESPN that Ransom can emerge as a difference maker in Monday’s game.

Herbstreit said that although Ohio State’s pass defense ranks No. 1 allowing 161.1 yards per game its “cornerbacks are vulnerable, which means Lathan Ransom can be the guy who steps up and covers some ground.”

Lathan’s strong finish this season — he was an All-Big Ten First Team selection — has improved his NFL draft stock.

Some NFL draft projections have Lathan going in the third round, which is somewhat of an accomplishment given the injuries he overcame.

If Herbstreit is right and Ransom shines on the big stage Monday night, that could boost the draft projections higher.

Ransom already has 16 tackles with three for loss in the College Football Playoffs.

Pro Football Focus gives Ransom the highest grade among run defenders in the nation at 93.5.

The toughness that was instilled in him from his parents has a lot to do with his performance.

“Being a dude I feel like has been overlooked, a dude that’s been overlooked my whole life since I was young, I always go into the game with that chip on my shoulder, not forgetting where I’ve come from,” he said.

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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.

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