In the same spot where a banner that read 'The Chase' sat one year ago, a new one sat Tuesday as Ohio State held its first spring practice in preparation for the 2015 season. This banner says 'The Grind.'
Each sign represents something different. 'The Chase' was about the Buckeyes' pursuit of capturing a championship. 'The Grind' is about defending it.
Fresh off the first-ever College Football Playoff national title, Ohio State officially began its quest to repeat as national champions Tuesday inside the Woody Hayes Athletic Center on a windy and rainy morning in Columbus. 'The Grind' was officially on.
“I think the big thing is we had a bunch of guys who were really anxious today so we came out with some energy even though it was kind of early," linebacker Joshua Perry said. "I think we’re really excited, we’ve got a good vibe and we’re trying to carry some momentum."
The Buckeyes won their national title in 2014 with an extremely young team. Most of the key contributors to that team return for 2015. Sure, the Buckeyes lost some guys, but overall expectations couldn't be higher.
The biggest worry with this Ohio State team is the same as most defending national champions: the possibility of becoming complacent or a sense of entitlement.
"I don't think last year we had that sense around here at all. This year, I'm watching it and I don't feel like it and if I did, we'd dive right into it," head coach Urban Meyer said. "There's not a whole lot of whispering, we'd dive right into what the problem is. That's something to watch real closely."
Finding motivation doesn't appear to be much of a problem for the Buckeyes. They still insist there are people who doubt them, despite the overflow of talent on the roster.
"We know that people are always going to doubt us so that’s going to be a big thing for us," Perry said. "We’ve got a target on our back so we’ve still got something to prove every day we go out there."
"I can see why there are reasons people doubt us. We lost some players who were vital to us last year and it’s kind of scary for a team to come off a big season like we did to have a letdown," added left tackle Taylor Decker, who, like Perry, is a shoe-in to be a team captain in 2015. "You don’t want guys to be entitled to winning games. There’s a reason we won games and a reason we had the season we did. There’s a culture that’s been building here and that’s what helped us have the season we did."
Still, it seems a bit farfetched.
Could there really be a ton of people out there doubting a team that rolled through its season following a Week 2 loss winning 13-straight games to end the year including one of the most impressive three-game runs in college football history and returns most of the guys from that team? Is that even possible?
“It’s just the nature of the game and just being in the position that we’re in," Perry said. "People want to talk about maybe the Big Ten conference is this, that or the other or can Ohio State really do it again? Maybe it was a fluke that all those players came together the way that they did. They had really good senior leadership and those guys aren’t here anymore. All those things you’re going to hear so everybody is going to have something contract what you’re trying to do and impose on what you’re trying to do so you just have to be ready for that."
If history has taught us anything it's that Meyer will have the Buckeyes up to the challenge.
