It looks out of place. The building -- an understatement really to call it that -- is one of a kind with its Gothic, grandiose details and arched entryways and the grassy courtyard inside that stretches the length of a respectable Midwestern backyard. It’s hard to imagine such a thing could be found in the middle of Brooklyn.

Amid the brick apartment buildings and the Italian and Caribbean eateries with their colorful awnings hanging over metal security gates, Erasmus Hall’s campus is a landmark in New York City’s Flatbush neighborhood. The nation’s second oldest high school has been in the same spot since its doors opened in 1786. Eighteen years before Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in their famous duel, the two men joined forces with several of America’s earliest wealthy families to help provide funds for the new school. It became a public institution shortly before the start of the 20th century, and the large stone building grew steadily to take up nearly a full city block.

“It looks like a castle,” says Erasmus graduate and Ohio State junior Curtis Samuel. “You definitely won’t miss it.”

Samuel is a bit out of place himself, a Brooklyn kid playing football at a blueblood program like Ohio State. New York City is far from the traditional beaten path on the recruiting trail, but that’s where Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer has found a seemingly perfect fit for his versatile, difficult-to-defend H-back position.

Samuel leads the potent Ohio State offense with 15 touchdowns this season -- eight as a runner and seven as a receiver. He’s a big-play threat from anywhere and everywhere. No, you definitely won’t miss him, either.

After patiently waiting his turn for two seasons in Columbus, Samuel has risen to the forefront of Ohio State’s talent-rich roster of offensive weapons this fall. He's racked up a team-high 1,546 all-purpose yards. Next week, He’ll get a chance to continue carving his place in the school’s history against No. 2 Clemson in a College Football Playoff semifinal at the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl. A major contribution to a national championship would raise his profile in Erasmus’ annals too, although it might be harder to stand out among that group.

Photos of famous alumni fill the halls of the campus (which is now home to five smaller schools that all come together in sports to compete as the Erasmus High Dutchmen) and give a flavor of its impressive past. Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand sang in the Erasmus choir together in the 1950s. Before then, fellow alum Mae West was making waves in Hollywood. Moe from the Three Stooges made it through two months there before dropping out of school.

In the sports world, Al Davis got his start in football as a student at Erasmus. Chicago Bulls and White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, world chess champion Bobby Fischer and boxing promoter Bob Arum each attended the school as well. The list goes on. Samuel and his high school teammates played their games at Sid Luckman Field, named for the former NFL MVP and Chicago Bears champion from the 1940s.

“The history is ridiculous,” football coach Danny Landberg says. “It’s got ridiculous celebrity names from the past.”

Landberg speaks with the perpetual hastiness of a man who’d love to chat but is running a minute late to catch his train, that uniquely charming New York dialect. He started coaching at Erasmus in 2001 at the end of a rough spell for the school and its athletics programs. Like much of Brooklyn, Erasmus fell on hard times in the 1980s and 1990s. The building fell into disrepair and the football team could barely find enough bodies to fill a starting lineup. Wins were even harder to find, but Landberg was local and young and figured he could build something positive at Erasmus with enough hard work.

A few years later, Landberg was at a Brooklyn youth football game when he met Roy Armstead and Armstead’s 7-year-old stepson, Curtis Samuel. His athleticism was apparent even at that young of an age. Landberg and Armstead became friends, and it was clear to both of them that Samuel's future with a football in his hands was bright.

Erasmus football was on the rise by the time Samuel matriculated there in 2010. City kids can apply to attend any public high school they choose and Samuel says “my mother wasn’t going to just send me to any school now.” He started for the Dutchmen as a sophomore and led them to a city championship in his senior season.

The photos of famous alumni on the walls of Erasmus Hall may not resonate with today's players, but Curtis Samuel does. "They feel more realistic in their hope because they're watching one of their own do it," said Erasmas Hall coach Danny Landberg. Greg Bartram/USA TODAY Sports

Along the way, college coaches started to take notice. Landberg says growth in the youth leagues has helped mold more of the area’s many good athletes into good football players. He added that the rise of social media in recruiting has helped them find new ways to catch a coach's eye where they normally wouldn't look. Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano said he found himself paying closer attention to prospects from the city late in his tenure as head coach at Rutgers.

“Danny is half-crazy, but that’s why I love him,” Schiano says. “He’s done an incredible job for those kids. Inner city New York isn’t known for its football, but it’s starting to change a little bit.”

One of Samuel’s high school teammates, Jahsen Wint, joined him in Columbus as a freshman safety on Schiano’s defense this fall. A handful of other Erasmus players have Division I scholarship offers, including one of the nation’s top defensive tackle prospects, Matthew Jones. Erasmus is certainly the most popular stop in the area for college coaches, but other New York City schools are starting to produce top-tier talent as well.

In a way it seems natural that a school that has produced so many extraordinary people is leading the way in producing college prospects in a place where football has long been considered something other than ordinary. Who wouldn’t be inspired by that history? The significance of the trailblazing faces in those pictures hanging in Erasmus’ halls was mostly lost on Samuel and his peers, though.

“Coach Landberg every day used to tell us over and over, ‘Do y’all know who went here? Do y’all understand where y’all are right now?’” Samuel said. “He used to tell us that over and over. But we’re young and we’re not really worried about that. We’re just worried about going out and playing a game.”

Landberg said that history is a few too many generations removed to mean much to his teenaged players. They draw their inspiration from new trendsetters these days anyway.

“It’s out of their time,” he says. “But kids have hope when they come here because they have an opportunity to go to college. Seeing Curtis and what he’s doing is definitely a part of that. They feel more realistic in their hope because they’re watching one of their own do it.”