Joey Bosa Is College Football's New Rob Gronkowski

COLUMBUS, Ohio — More than a year ago, at the free-for-all that is Ohio State's annual media day, I approached a 6'5", 270-pound man-child.

We talked about football for about five minutes; why he decided to come to Columbus from sunny Fort Lauderdale, Florida, his expectations for his freshman season, how the first few weeks of fall camp had gone for him.

It was your standard media day stuff. But as the interview came to a close, I decided to go a bit deeper with the behemoth in front of me.

"So tell me about this music thing," I requested.

"Oh," Joey Bosa said, smiling sheepishly. "You heard about that?"

How could I not have?

Any follower of Bosa (@jbbigbear) on Twitter is well aware of his passion for music, particularly of the electronic dance variety. The Buckeyes defensive end has even gone as far as to give DJing a try, releasing a series of mixes on his personal SoundCloud account.

"I'm a big music guy. I've loved music all my life. I just look up to them and it seemed like an awesome thing to do and I thought I'd try it, so I just got into it," Bosa told me for a story that ran on BuckeyeGrove.com. "A lot of people, that's what they know me for, before football. But, it's definitely a big part of my life. Not as a career—football always comes first—but music is my second love."

Bosa's passion for music is just a glimpse into the personality that defines him as much as his on-field ability does. And now one-and-a-half years into his college career, he has managed to become an internet favorite for both.

Take last Saturday, for example, when his game-clinching sack in Ohio State's double-overtime win over Penn State set social media abuzz. Driving Nittany Lions running back Akeel Lynch back into quarterback Christian Hackenberg, Bosa became an instant Vine; six seconds of pure dominance captured in just one clip.

“That wasn’t what I was supposed to do. I was supposed to hit the guard and wrap up, but he blocked down so the hole opened, so I just took it,” Bosa said after the game. “I was tired of trying to work my way around the back, so I just ran him over."

If Buckeye fans had one gripe with the eighth sack of Bosa's sophomore season, it would be that it wasn't punctuated with his signature celebration.

After knocking down Cincinnati quarterback Gunner Kiel for a sack-turned-safety in Ohio State's fourth game of the season, Bosa subtly threw his hands up into the air, shrugging his shoulders in the process. The celebration seemed to go largely unnoticed by fans at the time, until Bosa pointed it out on his Instagram account the following day.

Instantly, Bosa became a walking meme. Fans and media members alike couldn't help but link his name with the popular shrugging-text emoji, tweeting it whenever they could in association with the now-sophomore.

“It just happened,” Bosa said of the celebration. “I guess a bunch of people liked it so I feel obliged, like I have to do it every time I get a sack.”

That's the emoji that Bosa is mimicking, an inadvertent nod to his popularity with the internet crowd. He threw up the shrug—to much more fanfare—during the Buckeyes' Oct. 4 win over Maryland, again during an Oct. 18 rout of Rutgers and once more after his 2.5 sacks against the Nittany Lions.

But while Bosa's teammates mobbed him before he could even realize that he had just ended Ohio State's close call with Penn State, he still managed to let his personality shine through last Saturday night. Grabbing J.T. Barrett while walking off the field, Bosa let the Ohio State quarterback know that he should be thankful for his star defensive end's performance, in a moment captured by BuckeyeGrove.com. 

(warning: video contains NSFW audio)

"You're welcome, b---h," Bosa told Barrett with a smile as he pulled him in for a hug.

Mere moments later, Bosa took to Twitter to confirm that the comment was intended to be playful.

"

And I love JT! People don't understand sarcasm jeeeeez

— Joey Bosa (@jbbigbear) October 26, 2014"

Only you'd be hard-pressed to find anybody in Columbus who took issue with Bosa's moment of exuberance, most aware that it fell right in line with the 19-year-old's personality. Despite his dominance, it's rare that a defensive lineman becomes as popular as Bosa has in the past two months, his techno tunes and sack shrugs adding color to an otherwise unglamorous position.

Of course, it also doesn't hurt that Bosa is pretty good at that whole football thing, too, his eight sacks on the season placing fifth in the nation, despite the Buckeyes having already endured two bye weeks. Having previously stated that Bosa could be as good as any defensive lineman he's ever had, Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer admitted that the former 5-star prospect is living up to the hype, as evidenced by last weekend's walk-off sack.

"It was a tailback that was trying to block that big monster," Meyer said. "Obviously he's a tremendous physical specimen with what he was able to do. He's a fast-twitch guy that's real big and strong. A great player."

So what makes Bosa more popular: His personality or his football prowess?

Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Ohio State Lead Writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes obtained firsthand. All statistics courtesy of cfbstats.com and recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.