COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Dante Booker isn't a player who needed anything more to motivate him or who requires many words to explain what he's thinking.
He'll tell you the injury in Ohio State's 2016 opener that cost him the entire season has created a greater drive for 2017, but he'll do it in almost a monotone. He can't be much more fired up. How do you increase what was already maxed out?
"He is full throttle as much as anyone I ever met," Ohio State linebackers coach Bill Davis said.
Booker waited for two years behind starting linebacker Joshua Perry. He waited one more after injuring a ligament in his right knee against Bowling Green last season, basically tearing his MCL.
That's three years of waiting. But all it takes is one season.
A year ago, Marshon Lattimore and Malik Hooker were first-year starters. Nine months later they were first-round NFL Draft picks.
Thoughts, Dante?
"This is a place that you can do something like that."
Urban Meyer and his staff may spin that into the latest team slogan by next week.
Does Booker have the ability to do it?
"I believe I definitely have the ability to do something like that," he said.
Booker isn't going to give anything away until he has a chance to show something on the field. He's a returning starter, technically, but he made it clear he'd lump himself in as a first-year starter. He started in spring, he started in camp, but ...
"All that matters is being in that stadium," Booker said.
"He's one of my favorite players," said Meyer. "He's just a good guy that works his tail off. It's not been easy for him, but he's had a very good camp so far."
He's a borderline five-star recruit with one start now entering his fourth year in Columbus. Look at the top six recruits from Ohio State's 2014 class - Raekwon McMillan, Damon Webb, Lattimore, Booker, Jamarco Jones and Curtis Samuel.
McMillan, Lattimore and Samuel are in the NFL. Webb and Jones are returning starters.
"I feel like a veteran, but I feel like I need to prove what I can do," Booker said.
Then look at Hooker.
In the spring of 2016, based on the long-held writer's belief that rhyming is cool, I scripted a mock TV show called "Booker & Hooker." At that point, I viewed Booker at linebacker and Hooker at safety in the same light, two first-year starters with big things ahead.
Two guys who could carry a show.
You saw what happened. While Booker was sidelined, Hooker was so good he left the show after one season for his equivalent of a movie career as the No. 15 pick of the Indianapolis Colts.
Booker is back, and he remembers that idea as a duo. He doesn't need much more than the look in his eye to convey the idea that what happened for one of them could happen to the other.
So here's where Booker stands. He's healthy. And he's between two possibilities if he stays that way.
His coaches and teammates talk about him, and have for years, in a way that makes you want to see what he can do. He's nearly as fast as fellow linebacker Jerome Baker, but at 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds, Booker is two inches taller and 15 pounds heavier.
"He's a big explosive athlete and he's out in space," Davis said. "So if you want to put a receiver on him, he can run good enough to cover. If you want to block him with a receiver, it's a long day. When you have the combination of size and speed like he has, you can take advantage of it."
Booker beat out Baker for that starting spot a year ago, but when Booker went down, Baker stepped in and played at an All-Big Ten level, and has first-round pick potential. So if Booker was better than that ...
On the other hand, sophomore Malik Harrison is the next young versatile athlete the Buckeyes love at linebacker. If any starter doesn't play well, or misses a game for some reason, the backup is ready. Meyer said Harrison will play this season.
If you're Booker, you look at Hooker, you see what's possible. You look at Harrison, you see what's coming.
You look at this season, you see all you need.