Ohio State's winter conditioning reaches insane climax

The Buckeyes (barely) survive Mickey Mariotti's St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

"I feel like Death has just beat my legs with a sledgehammer"

It's the winter workout strength and conditioning coach Mickey Marotti waits all year for; the annual St. Valentine's Day Massacre. One of the toughest challenges Ohio State football players will face in the offseason, it's a day for early enrollees to really see what being a Buckeye will take -- and for the coaches to beat them up a little bit.

The overall goal of the workout is to make players as uncomfortable as possible to see what they can do when pushed to the limit. Freshman are often disappointing to start, but the progress through their time as a…