INSIDE OHIO STATE'S MUSCLE FACTORY

Where college football's reigning champs convene to forge group toughness and “callus the body.”

- BRETT WILLIAMS, NASM

OHIO STATE FOOTBALL'S weight room sounds like it’s hosting a raucous initiation, the air ringing with howls, clanking weight plates, and the shink of chains hitting the floor. It’s just after 10 a.m. on a Tuesday in late June, and half the team is taking a back squat max test. The 28 weight racks are surrounded by groups of players; some you know—Caleb Downs, the top defensive player in the country, is at one platform, receiver and Heisman Trophy favorite Jeremiah Smith at another—while others are 18-year-old kids eager to earn cred by pushing more and more weight.

Guys heft the bars onto their shoulders, then gut through reps as their teammates scream and clap. It’s controlled chaos; each player who hits a PR lift blows an air horn to celebrate. The horn squawks constantly until the can runs out of fuel, puffing dust into the air. The players are quick to give their teammates props, with muscular high-fives, daps, and back slaps.

Mick Marotti, the maestro conducting this heavy-metal symphony, strides between the racks, correcting form and barking out commands: “Coach each other up! Walk like a dude!” Marotti—full title: associate athletic director, director of football sport performance—has trained the Buckeyes since the 2012 season. Since then: a 153-19 record (ahead of the 2025 season), two national championships (2014 and 2024), and 28 first-round NFL draft picks. He runs his program using old-school grit and data-driven process. “Attitude, effort, toughness, and discipline—those are nonnegotiable,” he says. “That’s how we're going to do it. Now, what we do, that'll change.”