Why son of former NFL quarterback and winner of Davey O’Brien Award committed to TCU

Owen Blackledge enjoyed being home-schooled until high school.

The best part?

“During my recesses, I’d always ask my dad if we could go hit batting practice,” Blackledge said. “He’d say, ‘All right, we can go hit.’ We would go hit for 30 minutes every day. That played a big role in my love for baseball.”

Blackledge hasn’t stopped hitting or loving the game since. The 17-year-old from Canton, Ohio will bring his passion -- and bat -- to TCU in a couple years. He committed to the Frogs earlier this week as a 2021 prospect.

At 6-foot-3, 179 pounds, Blackledge projects as a power-hitting corner infielder. He’s got the right bloodlines to make an impact, too.

The man who’s thrown him batting practice all these years is Todd Blackledge, the former Penn State quarterback who won the 1982 Davey O’Brien Award and was a first-round pick in the 1983 NFL Draft.

“He’s taught me so many things about working hard,” said Owen, the youngest of four boys in the Blackledge household.

“He’s always preached that anything can be going on around you, but you control attitude and effort. You can outwork everyone. He’s been a very influential person for me, explaining what it takes to be a D-1 athlete. It definitely helps having him in my ear.”

For Owen, the goal is to have similar athletic success as his father. There is no family pressure to do so, but Owen has embraced the expectations that come with being the son of a former professional athlete.

Much like TCU baseball has embraced the expectations of contending for a College World Series berth every year.

“It does help that my dad’s like, ‘Owen, no matter how you do, how far you get, I’m going to be proud of you,’” Owen said. “As long as I have family behind me, the pressure doesn’t get to you. But I do use it as motivation, seeing how successful he was in college and getting drafted. I want to do that.

“If he did it, I want to do it. Every kid wants to follow their dad. He’s been my role model.”

TCU is the right place for Owen to take the next step, too. It’s a tradition-rich program that has produced a number of MLB players, and Owen knew it was where he wanted to be following a visit to the school last weekend.

As an Ohio native, Owen loves the idea of being able to play baseball year-round in Texas. And he’s developed a good rapport with the coaching staff, namely assistant head coach Bill Mosiello.

“It’s always been my dream to play down south and play Division I baseball,” Owen said. “I’ve formed a bond with coach Mosiello and just felt really connected and believed what they were doing down there. Plus, Big 12 baseball is as good as it gets.

“It was a no-brainer for me. I’m ready to be a Horned Frog.”

Owen touched on a number of other topics during his interview with the Star-Telegram:

On committing early: “Baseball recruiting is so much different than other sports with just 11.7 scholarships. It’s a very fluid recruitment process. My dad told me before going down there, ‘If you love it and you see yourself there for four years, don’t lead on other coaches if you now you want to go there.’ So I really didn’t have a problem with committing this early. It’s early, but it doesn’t feel like a rushed decision by me. It feels good to get the weight off my back. It’s a fun process, but also a stressful process. Now I can just go out and have fun and play baseball.”

On interest from other programs: “TCU was always at the top of my list. I considered some Ohio schools, Penn State [his dad’s alma mater], Michigan and some other Big Ten schools. But TCU was always at the top of the list.”

On being a baseball-first kid in a football family: “I’ve tried out other sports, basketball and tennis, but just never got into football. Since I was home-schooled, I couldn’t play until high school. And, by then, I didn’t think the two-a-days and getting smacked in the head was for me. My dad never really pressured me to play it. He just said, ‘If you want to play it, play it.’”

On himself as a player: “I’m a hitter first. I pride myself on hitting, hitting to all fields. I feel I’m just scratching the surface of what I can do as I fill out, but I’d say I find barrels. I love talking and thinking hitting. You should see how many hitting coaches I follow on Twitter. Fielding is something I look to perfect. It’s never going to be perfect, but you can be pretty darn near it.

“But the biggest thing I pride myself on is being a great teammate. I’m always going to pick my team up. If I’m on the bench, I’ll be the best cheerleader I can be. I’m all about being a great teammate.”

On what players he models his game after: “Hitting-wise and approach-wise, I’ve been a huge fan of Michael Brantley. He was a Cleveland guy for so long then went to Houston, broke my heart, but his approach is great. His home runs are doubles that get over the fence, line drives that get over the fence.

“Swing-wise and bat path, I’m similar to Christian Yelich. I’m not saying I’m the next Christian Yelich by any means, but I took a slow mo video of his bat path and mine and we’re very similar.”

This story was originally published September 26, 2019 at 6:00 AM.