https://www.landof10.com/ohio-state...rice-i-was-getting-my-ass-kicked-i-wanted-out
Ohio State iron man Billy Price: ‘I was getting my ass kicked; I wanted out’
Ohio State captain Billy Price was close to quitting football in 2013.
Jeremy Birmingham/Land of 10
Posted 3 hours ago
CHICAGO — Buckeyes captain Billy Price has been the measure of consistency. But four years ago — and four practices into his college career — he tried to quit football.
Price, who needs 10 more consecutive starts to pass Luke Fickell to take the lead on Ohio State’s iron man list, has started 41 straight games. When he hits 51, he’ll have started more games than any player in program history.
But the streak almost didn’t happen.
‘I don’t like being here’
“It was the fourth day, a double session. After the first session, I looked at myself and said, ‘I’m done playing football,’ ” Price told Land of 10 on Monday. “I walked into the lunch room and I asked coach [Urban] Meyer if we could talk. I told him, ‘I can’t do this, because I don’t like playing football anymore and don’t like being here.’
“I was soft and wasn’t 100-percent devoted, hadn’t bought in. I was getting my ass kicked and I wanted out. I was used to kicking ass and I wasn’t ready. That kind of thing, you just get blindsided in college.”
Meyer and Price eventually came to an understanding. Price would move from the defensive line to the offensive line. While he wasn’t going to get an intensity break from his new position coach — Ed Warinner was as tough as Mike Vrabel — he felt his personality might be better suited for the offensive line.
“I would not put [those struggles] on Billy,” Meyer said Monday. “He was a defensive line/offensive lineman when we recruited him. He’s a pleaser. He’s a guy that wants to be perfect at everything he does. Obviously, as a freshman, that’s hard, so we redshirted him. I believe in his second year, we won a national title. He played very well.”
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