MOBILE, ALA.: Ben Gedeon zoomed through a field in his Jeep, jumped out, tackled a bear, tossed it into the vehicle and drove away.
The heroic act occurred five years ago with more than 100 Hudson youth football campers watching.
“Every year they have a camp, maybe there’s a little whisper about the bear capture,” Gedeon said with a smile during a recent interview at the Senior Bowl.
With bear sightings in Hudson making headlines at the time, camp organizers thought it would be fun to entertain the kids with a stunt. So one of Gedeon’s former Hudson High School football teammates dressed in a bear costume and caused a stir among campers by running on all fours in the distance.
“Somebody yells, ‘Oh, my God. There’s a bear!’ ” former Hudson football coach Ron Wright recalled. “The kids all run. They can’t go to the bear because they’re trapped. There’s a fence between the bear and them. All of a sudden, Gedeon drives up.”
The 2012 Akron Beacon Journal Football Player of the Year, who went on to become a starting middle linebacker for the University of Michigan, manhandled the bear as if it were a running back. Before Gedeon returned to the camp later the same day, he ripped holes in his shirt to make the scene more believable.
“We left it as a legend,” Wright said. “It’s almost like Paul Bunyan. [Gedeon is] just this larger-than-life figure for these kids.”
Now Gedeon is working to create a new legacy for himself in the NFL.
He’s at the Senior Bowl this week, practicing in front of hundreds of NFL scouts, coaches and talent evaluators in hopes of maximizing his chances to be selected as early as possible in April’s draft. He’ll play in the college all-star game Saturday as a member of the North team coached by, as fate would have it, the Chicago Bears. The Browns, Gedeon’s favorite NFL team growing up, are coaching the South team.
“He’s a classic Mike linebacker. He’s the signal caller on their defense at Michigan, the guy that kind of choreographed everything in terms of putting their defense together, a productive player for them,” said Senior Bowl Executive Director Phil Savage, a former Browns general manager. “This will be an opportunity for him to show he can play out in space and cover out of the backfield. People are looking for the three-down linebacker.”
Gedeon, 22, also had to convince a new coaching staff he was worthy when coach Jim Harbaugh took control of Michigan’s program after his sophomore season. Now Gedeon is confident that playing for Harbaugh, who led the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl during the 2012 season, has prepared him and several of his teammates for the next level.
Gedeon, 6-foot-1⅝ and 243 pounds, is accustomed to proving himself.
He played 38 games during his first three seasons at Michigan but started just one. He finally became a full-time starter this past season as a senior and took advantage of the opportunity by compiling 106 tackles with 15.5 for loss and 4.5 sacks in 13 games.
Media members voted him second-team All-Big Ten Conference, and the coaches selected him to the third team. He also won the Roger Zatkoff Award, given to Michigan’s top linebacker. He graduated in December with an economics degree and was named to the Academic All-Big Ten team.
“He’s intelligent. He’s a tough kid. He works his butt off every day. He constantly works,” Michigan defensive end Chris Wormley said of Gedeon. “This was his first year starting and he played phenomenal for us. He’s one of the best linebackers in the country. Now he’s at the Senior Bowl starting.”
Harbaugh was repeatedly quoted last year as saying Gedeon is a “stud.”
But those youth football campers in Hudson didn’t need Harbaugh to tell them about the legend of Ben Gedeon.
“All the kids saw me wrestle a bear,” Gedeon said. “Hopefully [the story is] still kind of swirling around those camps.”
Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Browns blog at www.ohio.com/browns. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NateUlrichABJ and on Facebook www.facebook.com/abj.sports.