Rival Report: OSU Players Describe Michigan/Ohio State Rivalry In Own Words

One of the coolest aspects surrounding Big Ten Media Days every year is hearing what Michigan's arch rivals — Michigan State and Ohio State — have to say about the Wolverines.

We recently released our Rival Report edition surrounding the Spartans, and now it's time to turn our attention to the Buckeyes.

We asked the three OSU players in attendance — redshirt junior defensive tackle Dre'Mont Jones, senior right tackle Isaiah Prince and fifth-year senior receiver Parris Campbell — how they would describe the rivalry with Michigan in their own words, and none of them held back.

In addition, we also asked BuckeyeGrove writer Marc Givler to share his thoughts on The Game, and he gave an interesting explanation on how much the perspectives differ between the younger and older fans of both teams.

Redshirt junior defensive tackle Dre'Mont Jones:

“You need to learn quick [if you don't know about it]. It’s a rivalry with a lot of tradition that’s been happening way before my time. There’s so much history behind it, dating back to the Charles Woodson days, the Eddie George days, and the Teddy Ginn days.

"That game is bigger than this sport — it’s the greatest rivalry in all of sports.

"It doesn’t take longer for guys who aren't from Ohio for it to get engrained in them. We study them from Day 1, and begin preparing for them in January.”

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Senior right tackle Isaiah Prince:

“It’s the greatest rivalry in all of sports. It’s the most violent game you can think of, and it’s the best game of the year.

"As soon as you walk into Ohio State’s facilities, that’s all the motivation you need to hate Michigan. Our workouts and everything we do in the offseason are aimed toward beating that team up north — that’s what we base everything on.

"Being from Maryland, it wasn’t challenging for me to learn to hate them. When you’re close with your brothers on the team, I learned how guys like [fifth-year senior receiver] Parris [Campbell] and [former quarterback/receiver] Braxton [Miller] viewed Michigan, and it just made me look at them the same way.”

Fifth-year senior receiver Parris Campbell:

“I’m an Ohio kid who grew up in Akron, so I grew up to hate that team. I was around the rivalry and watched it all the time.

"You have to be from either Ohio or Ann Arbor to really understand the true meaning of it.

"We see it as the biggest rivalry in all of sports. I understood the magnitude of it when I first stepped on campus, because we prepare for that game all offseason.

"We actually do a drill during the offseason called 'The Team up North' drill, where we do pushups, situps and crunches that match the number of days until we play them.”

BuckeyeGrove writer Marc Givler:

"There is a generation of younger fans who are spoiled, and have no idea what it’s like to be on the losing end of that rivalry. For the fans in their 40s and 50s and even mid to late 30s, they remember the '90s.

"This streak OSU is on now could go on forever, and yet it would never erase the sting of the '90s.

"There is certainly a segment in the younger portion of the fan base who has no idea what it feels like to not only lose a game, but to lose a couple in a row.

"They don’t know how it feels to really have Michigan take something from them, like they did several times in the '90s.”