Football
Buckeye Camp Marked by Players with Something to Prove
By John Porentas

Bench press numbers, 40 times, star ratings and conditioning achievements all go out the window today. The Buckeyes put on the pads today at 3:00 PM for the first time this fall. That means it's time to find out who the workout wonders are and who the football players are.

All the work, all the conditioning, all the speed, all the strength are nice, but they are not an end, they are a means, a means to being a good football player. Today the Buckeyes put on the pads and start banging one another to find who the good football players really are.

James Laurinaitis

"It's real football," said linebacker James Laurinaitis.

"You can see how good athletes are in just helmets and who wants to bring it a little bit just with the shoulder pads on, but unless you have full pads on it's not real footbal," explained Laurinaitis.

"You can see if young guys are ready to step up by how physical they want to be and you get to work on certain things like being more aggressive and being more physical when you get the pads on. It will be a fun little Hoot-n-Holler on Saturday."

Adding to the mano-a-mano macho test aspect of fall camp this season is the number of positions up for grabs. This OSU camp will be marked by young, unproven players trying to show that they are ready to be on the field and contributing. Senior Kirk Barton, a veteran of four previous camps, says he can see a difference in this year's assemblage.

"A lot of guys are just really hungry," said Barton.

Kirk Barton

"When you practice with them it's fun to see because guys really want to show that they're everything they were cracked up to be when they were getting recruited," Barton said.

The newcomers trying to earn playing time have something to prove this fall, but so do the veterans. Players like safety Anderson Russell, who had earned a starting position last year before a knee injury cut his season short, say that there is plenty of motivation for the upper classmen this this fall, particularly in view of how last season ended.

"We definitely have a chip on our shoulder, especially after what happened in that last game and really the game before that we didn't play well," said Russell of the attitude of the OSU defense as camp opens.

Todd Denlinger

"Our offense really kind of saved us that game. We know we've got to be a lot better than what we were those last two games last year."

Camp is grueling, and may be especially so this fall as hot weather has invaded the Columbus area this week. Defensive tackle Todd Denlinger says that he doesn't focus on those aspects of camp, but rather the football, the real football, as in the finally getting some contact.

"You can't dread it. You have to love football. That's why we're all here, because we love football. I'm just excited to finally strap up the pads and start hitting," Denlinger said.

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