High school football: Undersized Logan Letner keeps coming up big for Buckeye

Logan Letner weighs 141 pounds, owns a one-rep max of 155 pounds in the bench press and, in his own words, possesses a "somewhat lack of speed." Despite all that, the 5-foot-10 Cloverleaf transfer leads the Buckeye football team in tackles (24) and interceptions (3) as the Bucks (4-0, 1-0) prepare to play at Bay (3-1, 1-0) on Friday in a Cleveland West Conference showdown. "I'm the smallest one on the field at all times, but I believe the game is all mental," the senior strong safety said. "It comes down to how you think before the play. If I think I'm the biggest one out there and I can make the most tackles, I can do it." Not only does Letner lead the Bucks in tackles, most of his takedowns have come at, near or behind the line of scrimmage, as he owns three tackles for loss and has forced a fumble. "It's instincts," he said. "I'm able to see the plays before the running back hits the gap. It really comes from practice. I work hard with all the guys on the team and they make sure I'm good before the game. "A big reason I succeed is I watch tons of film. That helps me make up for my lack of size and my somewhat lack of speed. I'm able to see plays before they happen." Before the 17-year-old Letner could make anything happen at Buckeye, he first had to get there. He spent the first three years of high school at Cloverleaf, where he played special teams as a sophomore and strong safety as a junior, when he made 44 tackles despite missing five games following surgery to repair a torn meniscus. "It's hard to look back and say, 'I wish, I should have, I could have,'" he said when asked if he regretted not transferring sooner. "At the end of the day, I'm glad I've done what I've done and I'm happy where I'm at right now. "I'm very happy to be a Buck, to say the least. I'm thankful for my coaches, my teammates and the alumni who have made Buckeye feel like home." One Buckeye alum is Letner's father, Jamie, while mom Stacey is a Brunswick graduate. A Metro Athletic Conference champion at 138 pounds for the Cloverleaf wrestling team as a junior, Letner knew some Buckeye students through that sport, but his first day of football practice this summer was a little unsettling. "Going into the first practice, I was a little nervous," he said. "I didn't know how it was going to go and a lot of these guys had never met or seen me in my life. They made me feel right at home and made me feel good." As a strong safety, Letner lines up all over the field for the Bucks, as he did at Cloverleaf. Sometimes he's near the line to stop the run, other times he drops deep into coverage. At other times, he rotates up from deep coverage and defends the flat. Despite that variety, he had not recorded a varsity interception heading into a game vs. North Olmsted last week. Then he got three. "I've been telling my parents since the start of the season, 'I need to get my first varsity interception, I need to get my first varsity interception,'" he said. "Before the game, a couple of the guys and some coaches kept telling me, 'You're going to get a pick.' I got the first one and they just kept coming." Letner's first pick was the most important, as it came with North Olmsted driving and Buckeye clinging to a 3-0 lead in the first half. With the Eagles facing second-and-7 from the Bucks 19-yard line, Letner cut in front of H-back Luca Larue in the flat and got an interception at the 15. "It was pretty awesome," he said. "They were backing us up and were in the red zone. I made that play and I remember looking in the stands and feeling the energy from the crowd. All of us feed off that energy." The second interception came late in the opening half on a desperation deep ball. "There were three of us there," Letner said. "I was just the one who ended up coming down with it." The third came with Letner playing in the flat by design. Cam Landes got great pressure on quarterback Will McPherson, who appeared to be trying to throw the ball away, but Letner was there and returned the pick 17 yards to the North Olmsted 20. Five plays later, Bucks running back Roman Krettler scored from the 6. "There really wasn't anyone in my area," Letner said. "Great play by our D-line getting pressure led to (McPherson) throwing it right to me. The success I've had on the field really comes from my teammates and my coaches putting me in the right position." There's no telling what play Letner, who calls wrestling his "big thing," might make Friday against Bay, but as always he'll be all over the field. "My only individual goal is I want to contribute as much as I can to the team," he said. "I want to not only have a great time in this program, but I want to leave something behind for the younger classes behind me. "I remember being that kid who thought high school football players were the greatest people in the world. Now that I'm one of those players, if I can give a kid a high-five and make him feel good, that means the world to me." Beyond that, Letner wants the Bucks to win a CWC title, go undefeated in the regular season and make a historic playoff run. "We want to win every football game we can," he said. "I think we can make a playoff push, and I believe we can make a state push. It might not be talked about much, us going to state, but we work hard day in and day out. We work just as hard as everyone else, so why not us?" Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com. Follow him @RickNoland on X.