Strap in: Baby Buckeyes to get baptism vs. BG
COLUMBUS - Billy Price has started 28 consecutive games for the Ohio State Buckeyes — or 28 more than any of the three new starters joining him on the offensive line for Saturday's noon season opener against Bowling Green.
So his two words of advice Monday for fellow guard Michael Jordan, a true freshman, could also apply to tackles Jamarco Jones and Isaiah Prince and, really, any of the other 13 fresh faces sprinkled throughout the football team's starting lineup:
Strap in.
"And get ready to take media questions all the time," Price, a fourth-year junior captain, said with a laugh. "You're going to be under a lot of scrutiny. It's part of being here at Ohio State. Don't let the outside world start rolling too fast that you can't control it."
During his first weekly press luncheon of the season, coach Urban Meyer would only say he's "close" to naming his starting lineup and that, as of 11:45 a.m. Monday, Jordan, Jones and Prince would be joining Price and senior center/co-captain Pat Elflein up front on an offense directed by junior quarterback J.T. Barrett.
"Football makes you mature very fast," Price said. "You have to handle your business, otherwise you have meltdowns as a player, and that's not what you want to see.
"It's been a very strenuous work camp, and that was the goal, to develop players to be ready to go in front of 108,000 (fans)."
Elflein, who hasn't been full-go most of camp because of summer shoulder surgery, remembers getting his baptism against Michigan in 2013. He played the last three quarters in Ann Arbor after guard Marcus Hall was ejected along with teammate Dontre Wilson and one of the Michigan players for fighting.
Michigan and Bowling Green aren't in the same galaxy, but some of what Elflein learned from that experience can give the newbies around him now some insight into what to expect Saturday.
"My first thought after that game is practice is a lot harder than the game," Elflein, who switched to center this season, said Monday. "I'm sure you remember our defense that year. In practice, our No. 2 offense would go against the No. 1 defense. Obviously, I was on second team that year, so I was going against Joey Bosa and Adolphus Washington and Ryan Shazier every day.
"After that (Michigan) game I'm like, wow, in practice they put you in harder situations. They make it hard because games are like that."
Meyer has a special place in his heart for Bowling Green, since that's where he cut his head coaching teeth in 2001-02. He knows the Falcons won't be pushovers. They are the defending Mid-American Conference champions and beat two Big Ten teams on the road last season: Maryland (48-27) and Purdue (35-28).
But the biggest challenge to playing this BG team could be the element of surprise. The Falcons have a first-year starting quarterback and 11 other new starters, as well a new head coach in Mike Jinks, most recently the associate head coach at Texas Tech.
"That's always the game within the game," offensive coordinator Ed Warinner said Monday."What are they going to do and how are they going to do it. Obviously, we have no idea. We'll be ready to adjust. We have a great defensive package we go against here, that's very versatile, so we'll be prepared."
The Buckeyes don't anticipate a repeat of their home opener against Virginia Tech in 2014. The Hokies broke from their traditional four-man front, with five players on the line and eight in the box, suffocating the running game and sacking Barrett seven times en route to a 35-21 victory.
It was Ohio State's first loss at home to an unranked, nonconference opponent since 1982. It also would be OSU's last loss on an improbable run to a national championship.
"As an older guy, I've got to make sure these young guys stay calm," said Price, who was one of four new starters on the OL in 2014. "Against Virginia Tech, they started flying so fast, and if you can't get control of the situation and the chaos early, then one things leads to another and another.
"A lot of guys have taken control of the accountability aspect we are trying to push. We may be young on paper, but you really can't tell."
The OSU offense suffered a second summer casualty when Torrance Gibson, making a much-hyped conversion from quarterback to wide receiver, was suspended for the fall semester for an undisclosed violation of the university's student code of conduct. Meyer didn't shed much light, other than to say he didn't agree with the decision.
Gibson's loss isn't expected to have major influence. He was at a position where the Buckeyes may be deepest. When Warinner was asked Monday who has really caught his eye, four of the first names he mentioned were receivers Parris Campbell, Terry McLaurin, Austin Mack and tight end Marcus Baugh.
Even if you throw in the July dismissal of fifth-year running back Brionte Dunn for an alleged domestic violence issue, there's no need to feel sorry for Ohio State. The Buckeyes will have a lot of talent, albeit largely unproven, charging from the Ohio Stadium tunnel on Saturday.
That moment is when the season officially kicks off for Price.
"It's awesome," he said. "It makes all the terrible team workouts and all of the terrible team runs ... things you have to do (in preseason camp) ... it makes it worth it. That's what I tell my mom all the time."
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