It is certainly not a glamorous life for tight ends that play at Ohio State.

Blocking is the clear-cut No. 1 priority and there aren’t many opportunities to catch passes. Perhaps no one knows that better than Rory Nicol.

The OSU senior tight end has six receptions for 60 yards and two touchdowns this season. Not bad, but not what one might expect from a three-year starter playing in his final season.

The 6-5, 252-pound Nicol recently reflected on his collegiate career up to this point, and like any competitive TE he wishes he would have had more chances to show what he could do as a receiver. However, he also developed into the consummate team player during his time as a Buckeye.

“It’s hard,” Nicol said. “A tight end is someone who catches the ball and blocks. I think when I am more involved in the passing game, I think I pay better as a blocker.

“This is honest. (OSU offensive coordinator Jim) Bollman does a good job at Friday when we talk in our walkthrough. He has this quote he talks about forgetting yourself in the service of others. He basically is saying, ‘Forget about yourself and do what is best for the team.’ He’s been showing us that quote for two years.

“It’s probably taken me two years to look at that quote and understand that’s all you can do. You can be miserable if it’s all about me and why aren’t I catching the ball? Then you don’t even care if you win. You don’t care how you graded out as a blocker or that you sprang Beanie on the long one. You don’t care about those things because all you wanted to do was catch the ball. That’s not what it’s all about.

“The advice I would have for anybody would be to buy into the team concept. You have a chance to make plays. Maybe the tight ends we’ve had, maybe I just wasn’t prolific enough to be a great pass catching tight end. We never really threw a lot to the tight end. But I think we’ve made plays to help the team in certain situations.

“I have had a lot of fun here. When I really bought into the fact that it wasn’t about me, Ohio State football became important and fun.”

Nicol and the No. 10 Buckeyes (10-2) will play No. 3 Texas (11-1) in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 5 in Glendale, Ariz. Ohio State is a heavy underdog (8.5 points or so)More than anything, Nicol wants to end his career with a win. However, he also has dreams of playing professional football after he leaves OSU.

And if Nicol is concerned that playing at Ohio State hurt his chances of making it to the NFL, he sure isn’t letting on. The NFL wants tight ends that are physical, and it’s not like he’s been completely ignored in the passing game. For his career, Nicol has 38 receptions for 329 yards and six touchdowns. He’s split time with Jake Ballard over that time period – and Ballard is ranked as the better pro prospect. (Ballard put in his paperwork with the NFL advisory committee, but is expected to return for his senior season in 2009.)

Nicol thinks that playing at Ohio State has actually helped his stock in the eyes of NFL scouts. And even if he doesn’t realize his dream of playing professional football, he has his degree to fall back on. Nicol graduated following fall quarter with a degree in family resource management.

“No matter what you do, you better get your education,” Nicol said. “I know that sounds exactly like something (OSU head coach Jim Tressel) would say. You can come here for four years and not get your education, but you just wasted four years. It would be foolish to not get a free diploma, which I got.

“The one great thing about Ohio State is we have our own pro day here. So whether you go to an all-star game or the NFL combine, it’s all irrelevant. You trust you can put that stuff on display when that day comes.

“You just believe the best thing you can do is help the team. You just pray and hope that everything else falls in place.”

Nicol has no idea if Jan. 5 will be the final time he suits up for a football game. He hopes there are more to come, but if he has to take a regular job and use the degree he recently received, that’s fine with him.

“Coach Tressel always talks about not letting football to define you and having a balance in your life and how academics are important,” Nicol said. “There is absolutely no reason to leave here without a degree. Everything is in line here – the help and the support that you need to get a degree. That is the most important thing.

“If you get hurt … I’m sure (OSU junior defensive end) Lawrence Wilson is thinking in the back of his head, ‘Man, my degree all of a sudden is very important’ because we all know that talent-wise, he’s as good as they come. But he’s been hurt. If he’s not healthy, he’s not going to go to the NFL. That’s just reality. If you don’t have your degree, you leave and you go become a worker wherever, I am sure people get depressed and there are a lot of serious things that can happen.”

Nicol was asked if the majority of Ohio State’s players think they are going to end up in the NFL when they first arrive in Columbus.

“I think when you’re younger you think it’s real easy,” he said. “But as you grow up and you’ve been in this program and this system longer, you start to realize how many things there are that come together to form your life.

“I was talking to Coach (Tressel) the other day. I said if you go through a program like this with him – and not just him but every other assistant we have and all the support people we have and (sports information director) Shelly Poe, who has influenced me drastically – and all the people who influence your life every day like (trainers) Doug Calland and Bob Sweeney and (strength coach) Eric Lichter, if you leave here and you’re a lost puppy it’s because you didn’t want to listen. You chose not to listen.

“The things (Tressel) preaches are repeated all the time. The things he values, they set you up for life. I told him it took longer for me than maybe some other people. Maybe it was my subliminal message from God that you got hurt your sophomore year because it’s going to take you five get (the degree). But now, I feel like I am ready to face the world and take the world on.

“I’m confident with who I am and what I have accomplished.”

Nicol then added: “That was deep, man. I’m going to start writing poems.”