Landon Smith started playing football as soon as he could.

While his father played baseball and his mother played volleyball at Bowling Green, Smith gravitated toward the gridiron, watching Ohio State growing up as Joey and Nick Bosa roamed the defensive line.

“The raw physicality that they play with and the intensity that those guys bring to the D-line are just incredible to watch year after year,” he told Scarlet and Gray Report.

The former Olentangy Liberty three-sport athlete — balancing football, hockey and baseball — had an opportunity to play at the next level, taking a scholarship and joining head coach Lee Owens and defensive line coach John Saccomen at Ashland University.

But Smith was wanting something bigger.

Entering the transfer portal with three years left of eligibility, his dream school came calling.

With a connection to the Ohio State recruiting office due to a friend’s brother, the defensive end was encouraged to send in tape, soon getting a text from director of high school relations Ed Terwilliger gauging his interest about being a preferred walk-on, an option that wasn’t given to him out of high school.

Smith soon found himself touring the Woody Hayes Athletic Center with Terwilliger and executive director for football relations Tim Hinton, ending the trip with a conversation with defensive line coach Larry Johnson, telling him what to expect if he chose the Buckeyes.

“He told me as a PWO, don’t expect anything right off the bat, but if I end up being a scout guy for a while, that’s completely fine,” Smith said. “Just know that there is an opportunity to earn my stripes and get to where I need to be.”

As the Ohio State staff talked him through his academic path and what things would be like for him in the program, Smith realized he was ready to dive in.

“They said, ‘Are you ready to be a Buckeye?’” Smith remembered. “That’s when it really kind of clicked for me and I was like, ‘I’m all in. Let’s go.’

“It felt like a dream come true. Growing up in Columbus with Ohio State being the reason why I started to play football, just if that opportunity ever came knocking, I was going to take advantage of it.”

It helped that Smith already had a connection inside the Ohio State program.

The newly-named Ohio State preferred walk-on grew up with Jack Sawyer, playing baseball with the Buckeyes defensive end with their respective mothers having been college roommates.

Sawyer’s the one who showed Smith around, showcasing a love for the program that the former Ashland defensive end wanted to be a part of.

But Smith knows his path will not be the same as Sawyer’s.

“The only thing they told me was, ‘Be ready to work your ass off.’” Smith said. “Because, from my position, where I’m starting, there’s going to be nothing given to me. I’m not going to expect anything more than that.”

That doesn’t mean Smith isn’t excited for Sept. 3: that first chance to take the field, to run the same steps at Ohio Stadium that Nick and Joey Bosa ran.

“I think once I’m there, there’s not going to be a whole lot of thinking,” Smith said. “I feel like it’s going to be a rush of adrenaline, my dream kind of hitting me at the same time when we run out there for the first time.

“I’m really, really excited to do that.”