CLEVELAND, Ohio — All the way down to his last high school football game, Noah Potter made his presence felt.
Mentor returned to the Division I regional finals, and the 6-foot-5, 260-pound defensive end immediately pushed back St. Edward on the first two plays of that game. Later he blocked a punt that kept the Cardinals in position to take down the eventual state champs.
"Oh my gosh," St. Edward running back Jordan Castleberry said afterward. "Noah Potter? You should know he's going to O-State."
Potter (Mentor athletics)
Potter changed the complexion of every game he played the last two years, and thus is the cleveland.com Defensive Player of the Year after starting at defensive end for the Cardinals.
Mentor made the state finals last year and regional championship this year.
In between, Potter committed to Ohio State.
He returned this fall to help Mentor win a share of the Greater Cleveland Conference championship and finish 11-2. Potter reached the quarterback on 30 hurries and five sacks. Potter also had nine tackles for loss and 49 total tackles.
As a team, Mentor kept eight opponents to 10 points or fewer. It had nine starters back on defense, led by Potter, who went up against Big Ten recruits Ryan Jacoby and Nick Samac each day in practice.
Jacoby, who will join Potter at Ohio State, referred to the repetition as "iron sharpens iron."
"I always get up to play against them," Potter said in August. "Probably going to play against Samac in college and play with Jacoby."
Potter is the second straight defensive end and Ohio State commit to be named cleveland.com's Defensive Player of the Year. Tyreke Smith of Cleveland Heights won the award last year.
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