From: LancasterEagleGazette.com — LEXINGTON — It didn’t take long for Marcus Freeman to fall into character as a football coach.
He got down at eye level with his players, counting off the pushups as they hit the antibiotics buy online ground at the end of each drill.

“If I tell you to pick your nose, pick your nose,” barked the former Ohio State linebacker as his troops — a bunch of grade-schoolers — hung on his every word.

“OK, everybody clap!”

This group wasn’t going to win any prizes for synchronized clapping.

“Don’t you guys have any beat?” Freeman asked in mock disgust.

The kids tried again. Much better.

Freeman broke into a grin. Grin? There’s obviously still some cracks in his drill sergeant demeanor, still a long way to go to perfect a tough-guy image.

“I’m just learning,” Freeman admitted during a break in last week’s All-American Youth Football Camp at Lexington High School, where he was a guest instructor for director B.J. Payne. “This is a whole new profession for me. It’s totally different than playing the game. There’s a lot to learn and I’m learning from the best coaches in the nation.”

Freeman is working as a graduate assistant coach for the Buckeyes. It wasn’t exactly planned, but baseball isn’t the only sport that throws curveballs.

Selected in the fifth round of the 2009 NFL draft by Chicago, Freeman played in all four preseason games for the Bears but was waived before the start of the regular season. He later spent time with the Buffalo Bills and Houston Texans on their practice squads and had decided to sign with the Indianapolis Colts this year until a physical by a Colts team doctor in February revealed that Freeman had an enlarged heart valve.

Thankfully, it was discovered before something tragic happened, but just like that his playing career was over.

“You want to play football as long as you can, which is what I wanted to do, but it got cut short and it’s time to turn the page to the next chapter,” Freeman said. “Luckily, that was at Ohio State. Coach (Jim) Tressel always says when you come to Ohio State, you’re a Buckeye forever. When my situation happened with the NFL, he was the first guy to welcome me back with open arms.”

Freeman will assist co-defensive coordinator Luke Fickell with a linebacking corps that welcomes back starters Ross Homan and Brian Rolle and starting prospects like Etienne Sabino, Andrew Sweat, Dorian Bell and Storm Klein.

“Guys like Ross and Brian understand how good a player Marcus was and they’ll listen to him,” said James Laurinaitis, Freeman’s All-America sidekick at Ohio State and now a St. Louis Rams linebacker. “He’ll have a different style than coach Fickell. He won’t be a yeller; he’ll have more of a calm approach. But any coach has got to love what he’s doing. You’ve got to put the hours in, and I think he will.

“Marcus is very knowledgeable and very passionate about football. I think he’s going to do a great job. He always knew how to watch film and what to look for. Being a high-level linebacker in college he has a ton of knowledge that he can give to the guys there now.”

Freeman played on OSU teams that reached back-to-back national championship games. This season, he’ll have a chance to get to the BCS title game as a coach. Many pre-season polls rank Ohio State No. 2 behind defending champ Alabama.

“This is a very talented football team, but talent is nothing if you don’t put it into execution,” Freeman said. “We’ll preach to the guys to keep working hard and not pay attention to the rankings. There’s a lot of work to do.”

Freeman is still getting used to……..
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