Urban Meyer’s first Ohio State fall camp is approaching the halfway point, and with a little help from ESPN, OSU fans are getting an intimate inside look at everything from the practice routines to the locker rooms. The depth chart is changing as some of the incoming freshmen show their stuff early, and Meyer has been busy implementing some of his own new touches to the time-honored traditions of Ohio State football.

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The college football season begins in just a few weeks with a full slate of games of Labor Day weekend. It’s a weekend to be looked forward to with more than a little bit of ambiguity.

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“Telling Quotes” is a weekly recap of the Big Ten’s top stories using five quotes from around the conference (with a moderate Ohio State lean).

With the college football season just over three weeks away, teams around the country have been hitting the practice field for the start of fall camp.

The Ohio State Buckeyes reported last Friday as upperclassmen took the field at 6:00 am for an early morning practice. Freshmen members of the football team took part in a separate practice at 5:30 pm that evening. Over the last seven days, a number of storylines have developed as the Buckeyes work their way toward the 2012 season. We’ll explore some of those stories and check in on something stupid involving the Penn State situation as we look back at this week’s quotes.

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In Part One of this year’s Big Ten preview I gave the edge to the Legends as the stronger overall of the two conference divisions.  The programs at the bottom of the Leaders Division appear weaker than the Legends’ second tier. And at the top, the Leaders’ two traditional marquee teams are competing under official sanction.

The prevailing wisdom is that Wisconsin might as well pack for Indianapolis because its two primary competitors for the title, Ohio State and Penn State, aren’t permitted to represent the Leaders Division in the postseason. Some good players and coaches at Illinois and Purdue will have something to say about that, while Indiana probably won’t., but Wisconsin is a team in transition and not without weaknesses.

Competing for media attention with the actual Leaders Division race in 2012 will be the debut of Urban Meyer as head coach at Ohio State. Meyer’s goal is to win the division and force the Leaders to send their second best team to the championship game.  And I think that’s exactly what he’s going to do.  Meyer brings his aggressive offensive attack to Columbus, and the Buckeyes are ridiculously talented on defense.  On paper OSU is the best team in the conference, and the expectation is they’ll be playing with…a certain attitude.

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