On a somewhat milder than normal early August Thursday, the Ohio State Buckeyes held their 2008 football media day at Ohio Stadium.

The Buckeyes will be gunning for a fourth straight Big Ten Championship, a third straight outright title and, hopefully, a third consecutive trip to the National Championship game, which has not gone well at all the past two seasons.

Miami Trace graduate Nathan Williams (No. 43 in your program), a member of the incoming freshman class, was walking, it seemed, a couple of inches off the ground with the excitment and the enormity of his collegiate football career getting underway.

“Just being out here with these guys is a true honor,” Williams said. “Especially with the incoming freshman, the coaches out here; just being in the stadium gives me goosebumps.

“I’m just living the Ohio State dream, really,” Williams said. “I’m just looking forward to everything this season.”

It’s literally a whole different ballgame for Williams, playing for one of the very top football programs in the nation.

“We have so many assistant coaches here,” Williams said. “There are six or seven weight-training coaches. They provide different programs for you.”

Williams has been hitting the weights twice a day at Ohio State; once during the required time frame and again later on his own.

“The assistant weight-lifting coaches write me out a plan and give me some extra work,” Williams said. “I’ve been busting my butt. Being a freshman, you’re at the bottom of the totem pole. You start all over again. You have to put forth the effort on your own time.”

Williams is listed as a defensive end. He will at some point play end or outside linebacker.

“There are like eight defensive ends on the team right now,” Williams said. “You just have to compete your best and try and work your way up.

“Right now, while we’re in practice, the repetitions are short for the freshman,” Williams said. “Because, you know, they want to play the older guys. As far as freshman, we’re all just trying to understand the concepts and the playbook. It’s difficult; the playbook’s huge.

“We do installs every day,” Williams said. “We try to install new types of defenses and stunts. We’re just trying to get the concepts of that. After that, we’ll get more repetitions during practice while the season goes along.”

Williams stated he hopes that at least he will be in on some special teams play this season, but nothing in that regard has been discussed to this point.

“I hope so,” Williams said. “We’ll see once the season comes. I’m just going to keep on working. All I can do is do my best every day in practice. We’ll see what happens.”