DaytonDailyNews.com

DAYTON — In his role as Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, Jon Husted has conferred on occasion with President Bush, but the two don't limit their discussions to the political issues of the day.

"He brought up the Ohio State-Texas football game a couple years ago, and I told him, 'If you want to see the best program in Ohio, come see a UD football game,' " Husted said.

The Republican from Kettering played cornerback on the Flyers' 1989 Division III national championship team, and he relayed to the current players how much he thinks of the program while addressing them after an intrasquad scrimmage at Welcome Stadium on Thursday, Aug. 14.

"This was the greatest experience of my life ... I've done a lot of major things in politics and life, but there's nothing I have fonder memories of than what I did on this field," he said.

Husted, 40, attends Flyer games regularly and was instrumental in the Dayton Public Schools being awarded a grant to pay for the new FieldTurf surface at Welcome Stadium.

He called his time as a Flyer "the single most important thing I did in preparation for the world I live in. It was about working together as a team, working hard, nobody being above anybody else. And one of the lessons you learn in football is one you have to learn in life: You're going to get knocked down and you have to get back up."

Husted has frequent flashbacks to his playing days, not all of them pleasant.

"I still kick myself about plays I didn't make when I was here and still remember them like yesterday," he said. "I remember all the games of our national championship (playoffs) and everything that happened in them. You ask me about anything else that happened in 1989, and I couldn't tell you anything."

New slogan for UD

A UD tradition is to come up with a motto for the season. This year's battle cry is, "The Dash."

Coach Rick Chamberlin borrowed it from successful small-college coach Joe Taylor, and the dash refers to the mark on a gravestone between the dates of birth and death. The message to the players is to make the most of the time between the two.

"You don't have control of when you're born or when you die," fifth-year senior linebacker Steve McDonald said, "but you have control of the dash. What are you going to do? You control your destiny. You decide what the dash means."

Defense prevails

The Flyer defense dominated the controlled scrimmage, which isn't surprising because the unit has seven returning starters compared to two for the offense.

"We're a little banged up at a couple spots on the O-line," Chamberlin said. "The timing wasn't there, and in our offense, timing is everything."

Still hungry

The Flyers are guarding against complacency after winning the Pioneer Football League title and a bowl game last year. Coaches and players were wearing T-shirts in the spring that said, "Stay Hungry."

"We have expectations because we're Dayton — we always have high expectations," fifth-year senior defensive end Scott Vossler said. "But just because we had success last year, we realize it's a whole new team and we have to do it for ourselves this year."

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dharris@DaytonDailyNews.com.