COLUMBUS — All the attention will be on the Louisiana Superdome Monday night as Ohio State and Louisiana State will vie for the Bowl Championship Series national title.
However, there are many people involved off the field in keeping those players ready and raring to go.
One of those headed to New Orleans today in that capacity is Delphos resident Ryan Patton, son of Pat and Sherry Patton.
The senior at Ohio State University is an assistant in the strength and conditioning department with the Football Performance Staff.
“There are three assistants and then a number of student interns,” Patton began. “My main job is to help plan and organize workouts for the players during the off-season, the winter conditioning program, during spring workouts and summer conditioning. I help take them through their workouts.
“If we’re dealing with an injured player, we work with the athletic trainers and doctors for specific rehabilition to try and get them back as quickly and safely as possible.”
His work during games is basically limited.
“During the game, the interns help with sideline control, keeping the players where they need to be, as well as working with the coaches with the radios and stuff,” he explained.
His job kicks in on Sundays after the game.
“That’s when we have the recovery session for the players. For anyone that had 10 plays or more in the game, they have to be there,” Patton continued. “We address any injuries, bumps and bruises as a result and what we need to do to get them back to health. The first 15 minutes is a cardio session to get rid of the soreness and kinks. The next 15 minutes is yoga; we have hired a yoga instructor to get them stretched out and loosened up even more. The final stage is 15-20 minutes of massage to further address the soreness.
“For those who had less than 10 plays, it’s a chance to get their first required lifting session in for the week. The players are required to get two of these workouts  in from Sunday to Wednesday. During the week, we are there from 6 a.m. until practice — usually around 2 p.m. or so — and we start a session on the hour. The players come in when their schedule allows. One hour, you may have one; the next, you may have a dozen.”
In the modern age of football, there is no such thing as an “off-season” any more. Monday’s game will mean only a short reprieve from training for the players; thus for Patton, there won’t be much downtime either.
“We’ll take a couple of weeks off after Monday’s game. For those preparing for the NFL Combine, we work with them on that, to help them get ready should they stay on campus,” he said. “Once those weeks are over for the returning players, we have the winter lifting and conditioning at 6 a.m. until spring practice. We’ll take a break after those couple weeks of spring practice and then get into the spring conditioning program. Then, it’s the summer conditioning and preseason. It’s an all-year-round routine.
“I basically help where I’m needed. We work hard to get players ready for the season, as strong, flexible, fast and in shape as we can. For the injured, it’s trying to get them back on the field at 100 percent as soon as possible.”
His mother, Sherry, told of the players that come back to the campus to train during the offseason.
“A.J. Hawk. Bobby Carpenter. There are a lot of players in the NFL that come back to train,” she noted.
Ryan works for Eric Lichter, the Director of Football Performance and the team’s strength coach. Butch Reynolds (an Olympic gold medalist in the 400-meter dash) is the conditioning coach.
“A friend of mine was helping out as a strength and conditioning volunteer when I came to Ohio State last February. Well, they decided to create student internships in this area and they were looking for people,” the younger Patton explained. My friend talked to me about it and when I told him I was interested, he gave my name to the department officials. I went through an extensive interview process and got the job.
“It fits in with my sports management major. I graduate in June and have applied to graduate school at Ohio State in this area. I hope to continue in this capacity either as a graduate assistant or even as a graduate assistant coach.”
Being as involved as he is in the Buckeyes football program leaves little time for Patton to waste.
I’d like to stay involved in the football program. I played one year at Ohio Northern before I stopped; I think I could hold my own here,” he joked in conclusion. “This takes a lot of time. If you’re not in class, you’re at the football facility. If you’re not at the football facility, you’re in class. You really don’t have a lot of time to yourself but when you have it, you really use it.
“I love what I do. It’s a great time to be a Buckeye right now.”