Ozzy Trapilo's Initials Are OT For a Reason

Bears' Natural Born Tackle Drive By His Dad's Memory, Inspiration & Legacy

Rookie Ozzy Trapilo may just be playing his way to becoming the Bears' starting left tackle.

By Clete Campbell Windy City End Zone

“I know a lot of kids always say that they want to go play college football and then go on the NFL. I was one of those kids. I grew up with football in my family and this is something I’ve always wanted to do.”

– Ozzy Trapilo

Ozzy Trapilo isn’t in this ride for his health (there are a thousand jobs that would treat his knees better). He isn’t driven by the cash. And fame isn’t his call.

He’s here because he wants to be the starting left tackle for the Chicago Bears. Full stop.

Everything that comes with that is dressing and gravy.

He’s a natural born football player trying to win the biggest and best job of his life.

The Bears’ second round draft pick this spring has been barreling his way to the top spot on Chicago’s LT depth chart.

There are 22 playing positions on the field but only one he ever felt was calling his name: tackle.

“I always had the itch,” Trapilo told The Athletic’s Kevin Fishbain.

HIS INITIALS ARE OT? COINCIDENCE?

Maybe it was fate that Ozzy Trapilo’s initials are OT.

The son of former NFL guard Steve Trapilo, Ozzy followed his father to Boston College (“Nothing quite fit like BC did,” he told BC Sports). He was anything but lost in his father’s All-American shadow. He started 24 games for the Eagles and delivered a First-Team all-ACC performance his senior season.

“He did have a little bit of pedigree,” Jason Pithie, who coached Ozzy in Little League Baseball, told The Athletic.

The towering 6-foot-8, 312-pound human road block with a 33-inch arm length and 10 3/8 hand span is impossible not to deal with. If you want to get any kind of pressure on a quarterback or a tackling angle on a running back, you’re going to have to go through Ozzy Trapilo, who is dueling Braxton Jones for the Bears’ LT job in perhaps the team’s best position battle in camp.

‘THE NICEST GUY’

Ozzy’s memories of his father are toddler fuzzy at best. Ozzy lost Steve to a heart attack at age 39 on a family vacation to New Hampshire.

“The one message that always seems to stick out was his character,” Ozzie told The Boston Globe in 2019. “He was someone who would give you the shirt off his back. He was a selfless person, someone who worked hard for everything he had.”

The world lost a gentle giant. Steve’s Boston Globe obit called him “the happiest guy.”

“​​Unbelievably nice guy,” Pithie said. “Ozzy has that personality, kind of the big lovable human being, just like a huge heart. Everybody, when he walked into a room, you knew that Steve walked into the room.”

Teammates and coaches see a lot of that in Steve Trapilo’s son. So does Bears general manager Ryan Poles, whose father played college ball with Steve. Poles had no doubt who his man and who he was getting when he made the Bears’ call with the 56th overall pick in April’s Draft.

THE TECHNICIAN

“Technician” is the word coaches and scouts use to describe Trapilo.

“For a big man who moves well, he’s a very smart football player,” Bears director of player personnel Trey Koziol said on Draft Night. “He’s very technically sound. And I think the dependability piece, especially in the offensive line room, can’t be overrated.”

You won’t ever catch Trapilo sleeping on the job or in training.

“I kind of realized when I got to college, the quickest way to get on the field and to close that gap is to just be as technique-driven as possible,” he told The Athletic. “Knowing your assignment, knowing what to do, how to do it, and then doing it as close to how the coaches want you to do it as you possibly can.”

THE FOUNDATION

Some day way down the line, Ozzy Trapilo will stop to reflect on how far he’s come and the legacy he’s following in. Right now, he’s just working to become the starting left tackle for the Chicago Bears.

“When I have some time, it is cool to sort of reflect on that,” he said. “It’s definitely a motivating factor as well. You know, football is hard. If it was easy, everyone would do it. So, when times get hard … it’s a driving factor in why you do what you do. Why is it that I love this game so much?

“It’s just the core foundation.”