By: JON SPENCER (MansfieldNewsJournal.com) —
COLUMBUS — Rhen Vail has lifted a lot of weights over the last few years, but none with more passion than the Big Ten Championship trophy he hoisted in the Ohio State locker room last month.
The OSU sophomore from Lucas found himself in the center of the celebration after the Buckeyes waxed Michigan 42-7 for a share of their fourth straight conference football title. It’s one the perks of being a student assistant on the team’s strength and conditioning staff.

“It’s surreal,” Vail said. “A year ago, I’m wearing a Beanie (Wells) jersey around. Now I know the players I was in awe of on a first-name basis and I have to put them through their workouts.”

After meeting with director of football performance Eric Lichter and strength coordinator Doug Davis, Vail joined the team for spring drills this year. The meeting was arranged through director of player development Stan Jefferson and program assistant Doug Castle, both former long-time school administrators in Mansfield.

It was Tim Niswander, one of Vail’s coaches at Lucas, who got the ball rolling with a phone call to Castle, who still lives in Mansfield.

“The only thing cooler than seeing one of my kids doing something like this would be actually being the kid doing this,” Niswander said by e-mail. “From a graduating class of 53 to a Big 10 title. I mean, how cool is that?”

Vail, the son of Dee and Bob Vail of Lucas, dreams of someday running a strength and conditioning program at a major college. The exercise science major is the youngest assistant on the OSU staff

“What I’m doing now is something I’d like to do as long as I’m in college,” Vail said. “By the end of the spring, they told me the position was mine as long as I wanted it.”

Vail was busiest in the summer when morning workouts began as early as 5:30. Some nights, Vail wouldn’t leave the Woody Hayes Athletic Center until 7.

“During the season each player has to get in two lifts a week,” said Vail, explaining that players follow different workouts, tailored to their position. “Now they’re doing two lifts and two runs a week until bowl practice begins.

“All the guys are real cool. They show me a lot of respect even though I’m only a sophomore. They know I’m there to put them through their workouts … sometimes I have to push them through.”

That’s never the case with the linebacker quartet of James Laurinaitis, Marcus Freeman, Ross Homan and Austin Spitler.

“They’re a close-knit group and all four always come in together,” Vail said. “They’re like gym rats.”

Vail described defensive end Thaddeus Gibson as a physical “freak” when it comes to the weights, but said no one can top offensive lineman Justin Boren — the transfer from Michigan who sat out this season — when it comes to strength.

“He hasn’t been tested yet, but he’s already exceeded our max of 435 pounds,” Vail said.

Growing up in a tiny town like Lucas, Vail had never seen anybody push that kind of iron around.

“We didn’t do a lot of weightlifting at Lucas; we relied more on speed,” said Vail, a four-sport athlete for the Cubs and a running back/outside linebacker on the school’s 2006 playoff team. “My junior year, my dad got me into weightlifting and I became addicted to it.

“I had always helped out coaching at youth (football) camps, so I thought being a strength and conditioning coach would be a way for me to be around high-profile athletes and also part of a coaching staff.”

Highlights so far for Vail include the visit to OSU this summer by NFL Hall of Famers Jerry Rice and Joe Montana and being on the field for the spring game while former Buckeye All-American Cris Carter served as an honorary coach.

Practically rubbing elbows with LeBron James during the night game with Penn State was a special treat as well.

“It’s unbelievable being on the sidelines for the Penn State and Michigan games,” Vail said. “Sometimes it’ll just be me and coach (Jim) Tressel in the hallway (of the indoor facility). What are you supposed to say to someone like that?”

Vail teases former OSU All-American Jeff Uhlenhake about playing in his last Ohio State-Michigan game on Nov. 19, 1988, the day Vail was born. Uhlenhake, a former Cleveland Browns offensive line coach, is in his second year on OSU’s strength and conditioning staff.

“I had never been to an Ohio State game until my 16th birthday,” Vail said. “Before that, I was planning to go to a small school because Ohio State seemed so big. But after that experience, I was set.”