COLUMBUS -- Tyler Whaley doesn't sleepwalk. He chases his dreams wide awake.

Friday, at the Ohio State Pro Day in Columbus, the former Buckeyes walk-on and Ironton grad will showcase his skills to representatives of the NFL in hopes of landing a full-time gig in a professional backfield.

"This is an annual thing," Whaley said of the OSU orchestrated scouting combine, adding that Vernon Gholston, Trevor Robinson, Larry Grant, Kirk Barton, Jackson Haas, Dre' Riddick and Dionte Johnson will also be participating. "They let all of the outgoing seniors have a chance to be recognized by professional teams," he said.

"Tank," as Whaley has been known since his days as an Ironton Fighting Tiger, noted that the open try outs have proven beneficial to other fellow Buckeyes in the past. "This was great for (wide receiver) Roy Hall," Whaley said, mentioning that his former teammate's NFL stock was assisted immensely by the try out. "He was in a similar position as me. He went from not having too much draft stock to a fifth-round draft pick of the Indianapolis Colts."

For Whaley, this is just another opportunity to prove he can compete with the best in the country. Five years ago, the 6-foot-tall, 250-pound dreamer walked onto the OSU campus as an undersized lineman in a football Mecca. Many people laughed at his choice to spurn scholarship offers from smaller schools to toil in anonymity at Ohio State.

Nobody is laughing now.

After progressing to second-string center in his junior year and earning a scholarship, Whaley was given a shot at fullback last season because of his power, explosiveness and low center of gravity. The unusual shift worked wonderfully, not only for Whaley, but also for his team. His "lineman in the backfield" attitude proved an asset in springing tailback Beanie Wells, and his teammates, to a second-consecutive national championship game last January.

"I'm excited because this is one of those times where I can prove myself again to fulfill another dream," Whaley said of the combine and his overachieving mindset. "It's like how I felt going into Ohio State. I wanted to play division I football and it turned out great."

While there is no guarantee that Whaley will attract NFL attention, he knows he can't let his dreams pass him by. "I don't want to sit back one day and say, 'maybe I could have,'" he said. "I want to take advantage of every opportunity."

Those opportunities should be greatly enhanced by his freakish strength. All Americans Gholston and Jake Long of Michigan tied for the most reps of 225 pounds at the national combine with 37. Whaley, one of the top all-time bench pressers at Ohio State, is in that league. "I've gotten 37 the past two weeks," he said. "I'm hoping to push 35 to 40 at the combine."

Whaley has trained "in secret" the past two months while deciding what to do once he graduates this month. It took his fiancé and his parents to confirm that he should continue doing what he's done his whole life -- follow his dreams. "Brittany and my parents said, 'You need to do it,' he said, which confirmed in his competitive heart the feelings he was already experiencing. "I don't want to be that guy who says, 'I could have had a shot.'"

And that's all Tyler Whaley is looking for -- a shot. Just like when he walked onto the campus of a perennial football powerhouse five years ago as the team's smallest lineman, holding only his dreams.

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