Few can say that they’ve accomplished their lifelong dream as early as college, but Ohio State cornerback Devon Torrence can.

“I pretty much always knew I wanted to be here (at OSU),” Torrence said. “I didn’t take any official visits anywhere else, man. This was the only school I wanted to go to. I waited on a scholarship here. It was just a dream come true.”

Torrence and his fellow senior teammates are looking to cap their college football careers by winning the National Championship. Anything less for this talented team filled with experience would be a letdown, for players and OSU fans alike.

The Canton, Ohio, native grew up wanting to become a Buckeye and now he’s on the “Silver Bullet” defensive unit, which is largely considered one of the best in the country.

As a freshman, Torrence was on the team when the Buckeyes lost to Louisiana State in the 2008 National Title game at the Superdome. Losing the game was tough, Torrence said, but it helped build the bond between him and his fellow seniors.

“When you get a team that’s like that, that’s lost some and had some success, it creates that perfect gel of that team that’s hungry and just wants to get out there and win and fight for each other every snap,” he said.

Senior linebacker Brian Rolle talked about the importance of having a good relationship with teammates and what Torrence means to the Buckeyes’ defense.

“Me and Devon, it’s like big brother, little brother sometimes,” Rolle said. “We’re always picking on each other and talking trash to each other. We talk trash just knowing we want each other to get better. We study each other all the time. Me and him, it’s a great relationship.”

Chimdi Chekwa plays cornerback opposite of Torrence and has helped improve his game. Torrence said their relationship also hits on the brotherhood theme.

“Chim is just like a big brother,” Torrence said. “He helps me out with little things that can help with my game. He’s really smart and pays attention to a lot of detail. I consider myself a very raw athlete at the position. He’s a lot more seasoned than I am, I would say, with some stuff. A lot of times I rely on my athleticism to get me through. But he’ll break something down and give me a different perspective and put me into position to make a lot more plays.”

After losing the National Championship game in New Orleans, OSU suffered a heart-breaking, last-second loss to Texas in the 2009 Fiesta Bowl, which marked the program’s third-consecutive postseason defeat.

Last season, in the starting lineup for the first time, Torrence and the Buckeyes came back to win the Rose Bowl — a memory forever ingrained in his mind, and his favorite since becoming a Buckeye.

“People say that we were young that year. It was my first year out there (starting),” he said. “We had a great time out in California and it’s something that I’ll remember for the rest of my life — just winning that game out there and having a blast.”

Rolle, known for playing with “swagger,” said that Torrence has plenty of his own and he’s always pressing his teammates to improve.

“Playing with him is great because Devon, he’s a guy, I would say, probably has more swagger than I do,” Rolle said. “He’s always like ‘let’s go man, we got to get better today.’ We went through walk-throughs today and he came up to me and said, ‘You gonna get better today?’ He’s always pushing himself and always pushing others to get better.”

Football wasn’t Torrence’s only passion. He was drafted in the 16th round of Major League Baseball’s amateur entry by the Houston Astros and played two summers of rookie ball for the Greeneville Astros in Tennessee.

He didn’t quite have the same success as an outfielder as he did with a helmet and shoulder pads. The athletic speedster hit .149 and .151 in 64 games over two seasons for Greeneville.

Baseball and football are vastly different sports, which require different mindsets. Torrence mentioned how difficult it was to bounce back from mistakes or bad games in football because there is a week between games to dwell on them. In baseball, there’s usually a game the next day to help forget about mistakes.

“I think that was probably the biggest adjustment for me to realize, was my mind-frame around that. I can’t give up any plays around here and, if I do, I got to forget about them right away,” Torrence said. “In baseball you have the next day to go 3-4, a double and a home run, and make a diving catch in the outfield. You can 0-3 the next day and come back and go 3-3 the next, so I think that was probably the biggest challenge for me.”

Torrence said it was difficult to be a two-sport athlete. The situation was trying because he played baseball during the summer, when his teammates on the football team would be preparing for the season. Getting a late start on football was a tough adjustment to make.

“I was in a different world, I would say. I wasn’t in the same situation that a lot of people were in here. My situation was very different from all types of angles,” he said.

Eventually, he caught up to speed with his teammates. The relationships he’s created with them are important to him. Torrence said he’s made numerous bonds that he plans to maintain.

“Those guys will be my best friends for the rest of my life. (Jermale Hines) and (Chekwa), I can rely on those guys for anything I need, or anything they need they can count on me to be there — (It’s) the same with (Cameron Heyward) and those guys. We kid and joke around all the time with each other, but I know that if I was ever in a serious situation and I needed anything really bad, that those guys would have my back,” he said. “I’m just glad that I was fortunate to come here and develop the relationships with those guys for the future.”