After spending two years at Marietta College and Ohio Dominion Rietschlin had a choice to make, it was now or never.

“I was like ‘ya know I’m either going to do it now or I’m not going to do it ever,'” Rietschlin said.

The 6-foot-4 defensive lineman tried out as a walk-on for the Buckeyes and was one of three players to make the cut in 2007.

Then Rietschlin’s dream took a turn for a nightmare as he injured his neck during spring ball.

“I ruptured a disc in my cervical spine,” Rietschlin said. “They told me it was either keep playing football and keep injuring my neck or I could come back and be kind of like a student coach to finish out my senior year. So that’s what I’ve been doing.

“That’s a horrible thing to hear especially when you love playing football so much. You love every aspect of the game and to be 23 years old and be told that you’re not allowed to play football anymore for Ohio State is a real blow to your self esteem – it sucks.”

Rietschlin contributes in the film room, where he studies opposing offenses for defensive coordinator Jim Heacock in the hopes of giving the defensive lineman who play on Saturdays the upper hand.

The senior from Crestine, Ohio will graduate at the end of Winter quarter with a B.S. in Business Administration from the Fisher College of Business, after which he plans to join his family’s construction business.

“My parents on a construction company [Riestchlin Construction Incorporated] in Mansfield. I have two older brothers and they’re in the process of taking that over from a field supervisor position,” Riestchlin explained. “I’m in the college of business so I kind of assumed the role of taking over the financial part, so that’s what the plan is right now.”

James Crepea can be reached at [email protected].