"I can't every remember that happening before," laughed White, "at least the part where they (the shoes) get real heavy."
White, like all the Buckeyes we talked to this summer, claims the team came out of summer conditioning in excellent shape.
"I think sometimes in times past the attitude was that summer conditioning was just something you had to endure and get through. This year it's been more a mindset of it's an opportunity to improve ourselves, so it's not getting through it, it's maximizing it," said White.
Like so many of the other Buckeyes White says that he is not only in shape, but is faster, so much so that he actually was worried that he had dropped weight because he was moving so well. A trip to the scale calmed him down.
"I weight just as much as I ever have, I'm over 250, and I actually was a little scared to get on the scale at the end of the week, because I thought I was going to be a light because I was feeling so fast," he said.
"I got on the scales and I was as heavy as I've every been. I think when you work out hard and do it for a long time its hard to do that, but Coach Lichter has done a great job of getting us prepared."
The Buckeyes were off last week, but will get to serious business this week when they reconvene for fall camp.
"We've been working real hard, maybe harder than any summer since I've been here," said White.
"It's time for the season to start. Some guys like to work out, some guys like to be on the field all time, I like working out, but I'm ready for the season to start.
"People have been talking for so long about what this thing could be, it's about time for us to actually go out there and do something about that. There's definitely a sense of anticipation to get out there and actually show what we can do, not have it just be the press talking, but actually us out there doing," White said.
White came to Ohio State a heralded linebacker/tight end, but was in a class that included players like A. J. Hawk and Bobby Carpenter, special talents that made it tough for White to get on the field as a linebacker. He eventually found himself at tight end, then fullback, as he searched for a way to contribute to his team. White says he has no regrets about the way his career has unfolded.
"I've always said that I'm a football player, that's why I initially got recruited in a class that was full of linebackers, because I could play a number of different positions," he said.
"I think that I've found a niche where I can be successful. I think I showed last year that I could get the job done and be a player you can count on. This year my goal is to be not just a player you can count on, but to make impact plays."
On a team that will feature talented running backs, explosive wideouts and a proven playmaker at quarterback, it's hard to imagine the fullback position as one that will be counted on as a playmaking position. White smiled, however, when asked if the fullback would ever get a carry in 2006.
"That is a great question," he deadpanned, that smiled when he added "I think they're saving that for the right opportunity, the right moment, a special play that will break right up the seam and go 86 yards."
In his final go-round as a Buckeye, White will be an important cog in an
OSU offense that is being depended on to carry the team to great heights. Those kind of expectations, along with a lofty preseason ranking, bring pressure, but pressure is something White has learned to cope with at Ohio State.
"I don't know if the pressure is ever not there at Ohio State no matter the season," he said.
"Preseason rankings, as long as you are in the top-15 it doesn't hurt you, as long as you have a shot to do it (win a national title), I don't know if it really matters."