COLUMBUS — The Miami Valley will be well represented on this season’s Ohio State football team and I chatted with several of the local Buckeye players and their parents at OSU’s annual Media and Photo Night — which drew 550 family members and 175 media members — Thursday at Ohio Stadium.

Kurt Coleman — the senior safety from Northmont and the true leader of this team on and off the field — may be my favorite Buckeye player. He’s a gem.

But the guy I really got a kick out of Thursday was Austin Spitler, the 6-foot-3, 234-pound, fifth-year senior linebacker who once starred at Bellbrook High and now is getting a chance to showcase himself again after playing much of his career in the shadow of All American James Laurinaitis.

Spitler,,,minus most of his new beard

And let me say that he did so with class, though he admits it wasn’t easy and said he drew strength from his teammates — especially Laurinaitis and Marcus Freeman — and the coaches.

Spitler was in the spotlight Thursday, but you might not have recognized him. He sported a new beard and rolled his eyes and grinned when asked about it.

“I know it still a little weak,” he said with a laugh as he rubbed a fuzzy cheek. “It’s just a (pre-season) camp look and being lazy, but everybody’s giving me crap about it.

“My mom was really mad at me today that I didn’t get lined up for picture day. But what you gonna do? You can’t make ‘em happy all the time.”

Someone mentioned he’s one of the strongest guys on the team and he shrugged:

“Yeah, that may be one of my strengths…no pun intended. Guys on the team call me ‘hillbilly strong.’ I guess it’s probably because there aren’t many farm and country boys on the team — though that’s not saying I am either.

“But I have done some baling hay and stuff like that. And everybody thinks I am (country) because I like country music and drive a big truck (a silver Dodge Ram.)

“There’s not very many guys who like country music on the team. Let’s see…I’d say there are maybe five who truly enjoy and are heartfelt about country music.

“My mom worked for a country station so I was brought up on country music. That’s all I knew “

He said he and some of his buddies went to the Country Concert in Fort Loramie last month. As for his favorite country artists, he mentioned Sugarland and especially Brooks and Dunn:

“Their song ‘Believe’ has always been one of my favorites.”

As the song goes:

I raise my hands, bow my head

I’m finding more and more truth in the words written in red

They tell me that there’s more to life than just what I can see

Oh I believe…

Spitler puts a hit on Purdue receiver Dorien Bryant in a photo taken by Neal C. Lauron of the Columbus Dispatch

For several years Spitler has believed — learning first from the linebacking trio of A.J. Hawk, Bobby Carpenter and Anthony Schlegel and then Laurinaitis and Freeman — and now those beliefs are finally paying off.

He’s in the spotlight and he looks so different.

And it’s not the beard.

It’s because he’s first string and getting a chance to prove himself again.