Ohio State had already piled up the points against Kent State, but the play everyone will remember came from a 349-pound freshman from Cleveland who turned a loose ball into the kind of touchdown you don’t see every Saturday.
Early in the fourth quarter, Buckeye defensive tackle Jamir Perez watched Kent State quarterback Ethan Thanthanavong mishandle a snap. Before Thanthanavong could recover the ball from the Ohio Stadium turf, he was hit by linebacker Braxton Rembert, and the ball popped free again. Perez was there to scoop it up 12 yards from the end zone, then lumbered into open space and crossed the goal line untouched as the crowd caught on to what was happening.
The score came in Ohio State’s 59-3 win, a game that was mostly a lull for much of the afternoon. But Perez’s return brought the building to life, and it may have been the most memorable moment of the day.
“Is he the heaviest guy to ever score a touchdown at Ohio State?” coach Ryan Day said postgame. “He might be.”
Perez, a three-star prospect in Ohio State’s 2026 recruiting class, is facing the usual uphill climb for a young defensive lineman trying to find snaps. But against the Golden Flashes, he made his chance count in a big way. His scoop-and-score was the Buckeyes’ final touchdown of the game, and according to Eleven Warriors contributing staff member Matt Gutridge, it made him the heaviest player ever to score a touchdown for Ohio State.
Day didn’t let the moment pass without a critique, either.
“Terrible ball security,” Day said.
Perez’s celebration may have been even better than the touchdown itself. He hit the “Sexy Dexy” dance, the same move made famous by Bengals 350-pound defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence, and that only made the scene more fun for Ohio State’s sideline and fans in the stands.
Day wasn’t completely sold on the dance, saying, “We’ll have to get that organized.” But his teammates clearly loved it.
On a day when Jeremiah Smith set the program record for career receiving yards and Chris Henry Jr. scored a 75-yard touchdown, it was Perez who delivered the play that had people talking afterward.
“That was my favorite play of the game,” linebacker Riley Pettijohn said. “… I love that dance.
Whenever the ball was on the ground, I was like, ‘No way he’s about to get the ball.’ And then he really picked it up and scored.
That was amazing.”
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