LeCharles Bentley.jpg

Via LeCharles Bentley's Twitter account.

It was at a regional recruiting camp in Eugene over the weekend for The Opening, Nike's prestigious summer showcase for high school football players, where LeCharles Bentley saw his own opening.

Bentley, who was named the Big Ten offensive lineman of the year and winner of the Rimington Award in 2001 as an Ohio State Buckeye senior, put a new twist on the Buckeyes' traditional hand-signal spelling of "O-H-I-O" by using the Oregon "O" logo outside of Autzen Stadium as part of the display. In the process it also likely twisted the proverbial knife a little deeper for UO fans, who just six months before watched Ohio State roll past Oregon in the second half for a 42-20 victory in the College Football Playoff national championship game.

Bentley even knew to include Oregon's mantra, "Win The Day," in his tweet.

Bentley sent a text message to ESPN.com that he didn't know the recruits who posed with him and was "just messing around, nothing malicious."

"It was in fun," he wrote to ESPN.com. "It wasn't intended to be disrespectful. Life's too short for the 'get off my lawn' crowd."

Oregon is 0-9 all-time against the Buckeyes.

After leaving Ohio State, Bentley went on to play four years in the NFL for New Orleans, his last coming in 2005. Since then, he's apparently gotten into youth and high school coaching. That led him to The Opening's Eugene Regional on Sunday, where hundreds of athletes came to make a good impression. For his part, Bentley made a pretty good impression on his Buckeyes fans.

It's certainly not the first time an athlete with ties to another college program has shown his loyalty while on another campus. In April, 2018 recruit Al Blades Jr. -- a legacy Hurricanes recruit, considering his dad and two uncles played in Miami -- posed with the "U" hand signal -- at midfield of rival Florida State's Doak Walker Stadium.

-- Andrew Greif

agreif@oregonian.com

503-221-8100

@andrewgreif