Football
Grind of Fall Camp a Welcome Relief for Buckeyes
By John Porentas

The merciless grind of fall camp begins this week for the Buckeyes. According to some Buckeye veterans it will be a welcome relief from the toughest summer conditioning program any of them can remember.

Senior Linebacker
Marcus Freeman
Photo by Jim Davidson

"I don't know if you could have had a tougher summer than us and been able to walk or live," said fifth-year senior linebacker Marcus Freeman.

Freeman is a veteran of summer conditioning programs under former strength coach Allan Johnson and current strength coach Eric Lichter. Freeman says that Lichter took it to a new level this year.

"Coach Lichter pushed us to the point this summer that every day you felt like you were tired and couldn't go anymore. He did so much that each day you felt like you couldn't do anymore," said Freeman.

Offensive lineman Alex Boone agreed.

"Guys were keeling over, passing out, in the four years I've been here it's the worst I've ever seen it," said Boone.

"He (Lichter) said 'Not only are we going to go to war but we're going to walk through the fire first.' We didn't know what that meant, then boom, there you are on the hill running up it," Boone said.

"The Hill" is a hill on campus near route 315. Boone said that Lichter made very creative use of it this summer.

"We did suicides up the hill, we ran sideways across the hill, we did backward bear crawls up the hill. It was the most unbelievable thing I've ever seen," said Boone.

Senior Tackle
Alex Boone
Photo by Jim Davidson

"It's right over there by the highway and it's the most brutal thing you've ever seen.

"It doesn't even look that big then you run up it.

"One day we did seven suicides up it after doing agility and warming up up it. It was unbelievable some of things they think of," Boone said.

According to Freeman, the tough conditioning regimen led to some interesting moments.

"There's been arguments out there between Coach Lichter, between the players, because when you get to that point where you're exhausted you get mad and you want to yell at somebody, but we know and we have the utmost respect for him that he' just trying to make us better, but there are points where you say some things to him," said Freeman.

"He threw some things in there at the sandpit that we're not used to, some things at the hill that we're not used to.

"I think he put it to a point where the rest was limited and the amount of effort you had to put in was full effort every time. Guys were yacking, quitting, hurting, falling out. It was pretty bad out there this summer."

Now that it's over, the players who experienced it can see the value in having endured it.

Junior Corner
Kurt Coleman
Photo by Jim Davidson

"Guys wills were tested," said safety Kurt Coleman.

"People were puking, people were getting exhausted just from running and stuff.

"That's what we needed. We need to be tested in every single way. That way when we come to it during a game we can fight through it. It was definitely a summer of toughness. He tested our will and we're not going to break," Coleman said.

The Buckeyes will undergo conditioning tests on Monday.

"We have 20 sprints. Its basically 110 yards in 15 seconds. You have to do 20 of those. We get 30 seconds between each sprint," said Coleman.

Because of the tough summer conditioning program Coleman expects the Buckeyes to pass their conditioning tests with flying colors this year, something that wasn't true across the board last season. And after a summer like that getting back to football and things like blocking, tackling, assignments, coverages and all that other stuff will be a pleasant diversion, but don't get the impression that it will be easy. Boone expects the effects of the tough summer to carry though into fall camp.

"I expect this to be the most brutal, the most intense, the most testosterone-ridden thing you have ever seen," he said.

"Lots of fighting. Lots of fighting."

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