COLUMBUS, Ohio –– If you’re looking for Ohio State offensive lineman Josh Myers on the field Saturday, you might have some trouble.

The Buckeyes’ starting center will not be wearing his usual No. 71 at Ohio Stadium. Instead, Myers will don No. 50, a number that carries particular significance to Myers and his family, and one that will honor his grandparents.

“They’re the type of grandparents that never missed a sporting event,” Myers said.

Fifty was the number that Donnie Myers, or “Papa” as Josh called him, wore during his football career at Miamisburg High School –– the same place his grandson would play at some 60 years later.

Donnie Myers died in 2009 at age 68 following a battle with Alzheimer’s disease, but his wife, Beverly, 78, still regularly attends Josh’s games, and even some of the away ones.

“Mimi,” as she’s known to Josh, has seen to it that her grandson doesn’t just have old pictures of Papa in his old No. 50, but rather, the real thing itself.

“Before every season, at the start of the season, she writes me a letter and then cuts out a square of his jersey from when he played in high school, and I wear it in my sock for every game,” Josh Myers said.

But that’s far from the only tradition shared between this grandmother and grandson.

Myers said his grandparents were high school sweethearts, and that Donnie gave Beverly a necklace made of a part of his football cleat during his playing days. Beverly Myers has since bestowed the necklace upon Josh, who said he wears it every Friday and Saturday up until he has to put on his football pads.

Before each of Myers’ games, he said his grandma sends him the same text without fail, a message that reads, “Angel on your shoulder.” Myers said he always responds with the same message right back.

“I feel like for me, at that moment, it’s like, ‘OK, I’m ready to play now,’” Myers said.

Neither Beverly nor Josh’s parents will be in attendance Saturday, as Ohio State announced this week that family members would no longer be allowed to sit in the stands during games due to a recent health advisory in Columbus.

Still, Myers said “there’s no doubt in my mind she’ll cry” at the gesture, which Beverly Myers won’t know about ahead of time, and one that her grandson began planning this past spring.

Josh Myers was cleaning out his room during the initial quarantine period when he stopped to look at a box his grandma gave him before he went to college. Included was a collection of football photos of several different family members.

“I was just looking at the picture of my grandpa wearing No. 50, and of course I was looking at the jersey, and the idea just came to me,” he said.

Myers didn’t want to wear the number on Senior Day, as No. 50 does technically belong to senior offensive lineman Nathan Brock, but after initially thinking his chance was dashed by the season postponement, Myers is thrilled to have the opportunity at all.

“I guess the point I’m trying to get across is she just is the type of person that does so much for other people and just cares so much and does so many cool things, and I just wanted to be able to try and give back to her in some way, in a similar kind of way,” Myers said.

It will only be a one-time deal, as Myers’ regular No. 71 was his father’s own in college, but Myers said he’s excited to provide his grandma with the memory.

Even if his family was allowed to attend the game, Myers wouldn’t have seen them before or after. The team has strongly advised against it as a result of the rapid spread of COVID-19, and Myers said this is the longest he’s ever been without seeing his family.

There is one thing Myers does need to see before he takes the field in his grandfather’s number on Saturday though, and that’s the familiar text from his Mimi to remind him that they are always with him in one way or another.

“If I was getting ready for a game and I didn’t get that text, I would call her and be like, ‘Text me.’ It’s everything to me, and I’ve just been so fortunate to have the family that I have, just so incredibly loving and caring people. Just blessed.”