Former Ohio State basketball player Musa Jallow's second career brings him back to OSU

The ball banked off the backboard, a pass from former Tiffin guard Devaughn Munson intended for his trailing teammate. Racing down the court a few steps behind, with an eye on the rim and an opening in his path, Musa Jallow seized the opportunity. Rising as former Dayton and Akron forward Xeyrius Williams looked on, Jallow grabbed the ball with two hands, soared through the air inside Ohio Dominican’s gym and slammed it home.

The play at least partially answered one of the questions Jallow had for himself while playing in his second Kingdom Summer League game of the year.

“This is just a test, see if my ankles can handle a couple games on a weekly basis and see if I can still jump,” he said one week earlier before the June 23 opener. “We’ll find out.”

On a path that’s had as many twists and turns as it seemingly has had surgeries, Jallow has gotten some answers during his return to the court. Two weeks into his unofficial return to the court, the athleticism that made Jallow a high-level recruit and Division I basketball player remains. On this night, Jallow scored 10 points, twice dunking balls that went off the backboard or the rim and also hitting a 3-pointer.

In the season opener, he had 15 points after shaking off an 0-for-7 start to the game. As the season continues, Jallow is hoping his body will allow him to keep alive the flickering hoop dreams he still harbors inside.

That he’s doing so in the city where his college career got underway is a stroke of good fortune mixed with some complicated feelings.

“I definitely got mixed feelings because I put a lot of my self-worth into how I played and my career, but coming back felt like riding a bike,” Jallow said. “Being around campus, working on campus and then seeing everybody I know, it’s been good.”

Injuries derail promising career for Musa Jallow

Then only 17 years old, Jallow reclassified, graduated early from Bloomington (Indiana) North and was part of the first Ohio State team coached by Chris Holtmann. He played in all but one game during his first two seasons, averaging 2.7 points and 2.2 rebounds while providing defensive versatility for teams that lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

He’d dealt with ankle injuries before, but two surgeries during the 2019-20 season would eventually require a medical redshirt. While rehabbing, he tore tendons in two of the fingers on his right, shooting hand. That season, he appeared in 26 of 31 games, averaged 2.9 points and 2.2 rebounds and entered the transfer portal with a degree in hand. He committed to Charlotte with two years of eligibility remaining and hopes of a fresh, healthy start .

Instead, Jallow was limited to only 10 games in 2021-22 before suffering a torn ACL that would prove to be the final blow to his collegiate career.

“I couldn’t even practice in between those 10 games because my ankles were just so bad,” he said. “They just didn’t heal up from Ohio State, and then I ended up tearing my ACL. I had ACL surgery end of February (2022) and then during that time they were like, we might as well get both ankles fixed, so I had surgery on my right ankle and then a month later I had surgery on my left ankle.

“It was three surgeries within like 100 days or something like that.”

It was also too much. Jallow tried to make his way back, even qualifying for a medical hardship waiver that would allow him to play in 2023-24, but enough was enough. After amassing 104 appearances between the two schools, Jallow medically retired from college basketball and a little begrudgingly started to prepare for life outside of the sport.

“That week felt like rock bottom for me,” he said. “I sulked through that week and then hit the drawing board.”

The good news: he had an idea what direction he wanted to pursue. A lifelong passion for health and physical education led him to earn a bachelor’s degree in exercise science from Ohio State and then a Master’s in kinesiology with a clinical exercise physiology concentration from Charlotte. He also left the 49ers with a graduate certificate in gerontology, the study of aging.

Even as his body was letting him down, his brain was benefitting from the opportunities basketball had helped provide.

“As a basketball player you put all of your worth into your performance on the court and so having a career full of injuries and not meeting all my expectations, you kind of walk away wondering, ‘Did I fail?’ ” he said. “Then coming back, seeing all these opportunities that have been given to me from getting on the court, it’s great and reassuring that I made all the right decisions. It’s just part of the journey that God has me on.”

That journey then led him back to where college started.

Musa Jallow working for Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center

While he was finishing his degree at Charlotte, Jallow started to look for jobs on LinkedIn when he found one that perfectly matched his expertise and goals. He applied, and in January started as an inpatient exercise physiologist working in inpatient cardiopulmonary rehab at the Ohio State Ross Heart Hospital.

Just like that, Jallow was back where he had started his post-prep journey.

“It’s funny, just being back,” he said. “Everything’s the same, but I feel like I’m in a completely different mindset, obviously not playing college basketball.”

Jallow took in a few men’s basketball games at Value City Arena and was on hand to watch the Buckeyes take down No. 2 Purdue in the first game with Jake Diebler as interim head coach . He finally received his senior jersey, which he said now hangs on his apartment wall, and was pleased to see that the doors were still open to him at the program even as those who personally knew him as a player had mostly moved on.

This winter, Jallow said he is looking to apply to medical school next year so he’s finishing up prerequisite classes and studying for the MCAT. While he’s at the hospital, Jallow said he’s interacted with “a lot” of doctors who were season-ticket holders and watched him play for the Buckeyes.

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“It’s been a warm welcome back,” he said.

The same went for his return to the Kingdom Summer League. Playing for team NWFG, Jallow was surprised to learn he was suiting up with two former teammates in Andre and Kaleb Wesson . Before the game started, the three embraced, sat on the bleachers and caught up as if no time had passed.

“I ain’t played with Musa in so long,” Kaleb Wesson, who played in Bulgaria and France last year, said. “That’s my dude, though. You know what you’re going to get out of Musa. He’s going to give you 100 (percent) on every play. He’s going to hit shots and do what any coach asks him to do. Musa’s a great dude.”

So far, the ankles have held up and Jallow has enjoyed dipping his toes back into the game alongside his friends. There is a general plan for what comes next, depending on health, schoolwork and job opportunities.

After leaving Ohio State only to make his way back, nothing would surprise Jallow.

“I give the glory to God for bringing me back,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting (it), but it’s good to be back.”

ajardy@dispatch.com

@AdamJardy

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Former Ohio State basketball player Musa Jallow's second career brings him back to OSU