Mike Vrabel: Buckeye legend voted into Patriots Hall of Fame

by WSYX Staff

Wed, May 3, 2023 at 4:07 PM

Head coach Mike Vrabel of the Tennessee Titans looks on in the first quarter of the AFC Divisional Playoff game between the Titans and Cincinnati Bengals at Nissan Stadium on January 22, 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — Former Ohio State football star Mike Vrabel has been voted into the New England Patriots Hall of Fame, according to the team's website.

The induction will take place later this year for Vrabel, who will become one of only eight Patriots in the team's Hall of Fame with three Super Bowl rings. Vrabel won championships with New England in 2002, 2004 and 2005.

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Now the head coach of the Tennessee Titans, Vrabel was drafted by Pittsburgh in 1997. After four seasons in Pittsburgh, he joined New England in 2001 and played eight seasons with the Patriots. He would finish his NFL career by playing with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2009-10.

Vrabel was a star defensive end at Ohio State from 1993-96. He recorded 12 sacks as a sophomore and 13 as a junior. As a senior on the 1996 team that won the Rose Bowl, Vrabel recorded nine more sacks, earning first-team All-American honors that year.

Vrabel, an Akron native, also was a two-timeBig Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year, and is a member of OSU's All-Century Team. Last fall, ABC 6 published a series of position-by-position "Best Of" reports, and Vrabel was named to our list of best defensive linemen in OSU history.

Vrabel began his coaching career by serving as OSU's linebackers coach in 2011 and defensive line coach in 2012-13.