What is a buckeye and why is it Ohio State’s mascot? The story behind Brutus

The second finalist for the 2025 College Football Playoff final will be decided today as the Texas Longhorns host the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Actor and famed Longhorns fan Matthew McConaughey is expected to be in attendance to cheer on the hosts, but the visitors have a celebrity supporter of their own to call upon. The team mascot - Brutus Buckeye - is one of the most celebrated in the world of college football and he has an interesting back story.

In 1965 Ohio State students Ray Bourhis and Sally Huber set out to give their school a mascot, initially hoping to bring a live animal to the stadium on game day. Their plan to enlist a live buck deer was dismissed on logistical grounds, so they opted for an anthropomorphic buckeye instead.

What is a buckeye, the Ohio State mascot?

The buckeye is the official state tree of Ohio, typically found along streambanks, in forests and at the corners of old agricultural fields.

The Ohio State buckeye was initially constructed out of papier-mâché by students, to be worn over the head and torso of the wearer. The Buckeye debuted at a Minnesota - Ohio State game in October 1965. It proved popular, but changes were quickly made.

In November 1965 The Columbus Dispatch reported that a campus vote to name the mascot had returned the name ‘Brutus Buckeye’. The heavy papier-mâché structure was soon replaced by a fibreglass shell to ease the burden on the wearer.

Now the Brutus costume features the buckeye head and the school’s iconic ‘O’ hat, along with a red and grey striped jersey. Both Male and female students step in to wear the mascot’s outfit on gameday.

Brutus was involved in a controversy in 2010 when Ohio State played the Ohio Bobcats. The rival mascot - Rufus the Bobcat - charged at Brutus and tackled him to the ground, before jumping on his back. Brandon Hanning was inside the Rufus costume that day and had to be pulled aside by stadium security. He later revealed that he had been working on the plan for a long time.

“It was actually my whole plan to tackle Brutus when I tried out to be mascot,” Hanning said, “I tried out about a year ago, and the whole reason I tried out was so I could come up here to Ohio State and tackle Brutus.”

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