If you know anything about Ohio State, you likely know about Archie Griffin.

College football's lone two-time Heisman Trophy winner, Griffin's name is a beacon of success and direct representation of the University across the nation and the world.

Griffin spoke with Eleven Warriors Friday morning about his work with the Wendy's High School Heisman Program, the transition in his life that followed his recent move away from his position of President and CEO of the Ohio State alumni association, the 2014 national championship team and Urban Meyer's quest to lead the Buckeyes to the promised land once again this fall.

"The Wendy's High School Heisman is a program that's been going on for 22 years," Griffin said of the arrangement, which provides a $5,000 donation to the high schools of one male and one female every year for outstanding athletic and scholastic acheivement. "I've been absolutely delighted to be involved for all 22 of those years."

The full 15-minute interview with the Ohio State legend follows, who added he can't contain his excitement for the home opener against Hawai'i Saturday, though he will be attending the wedding of a close friend out of town.

Eleven Warriors: You've given back in many ways to Ohio State as President and CEO of the Alumni Association. In April, you announced your intention to step down and take on a part-time, lesser role within the association. What's that transition been like?

Archie Griffin: It's been great. June 30 was my last day as president and CEO of the Alumni Association. I've since been working as a senior advisor for advancement at Ohio State and it's been great. I've been involved with programs that are going on at Ohio State and I'll continue to be involved with programs that are going on at Ohio State. It gives me a little time to be with family. I'm looking forward to spending some time with grandkids, they're all not in Columbus so I'll spend some time traveling to where they are and seeing some of the things that they're doing. I've got a son (Andre) that coaches football at Saginaw Valley State, so I'll have to make sure I get into that area to watch him do his job and coach. I'm looking forward to those type of things happening.

Has Ohio State University President Michael Drake welcomed your support and input to find a replacement? How is that process moving forward?

AG: From what I understand, it's going pretty good. They had asked for my thoughts on what the position should be and whatnot and I gave them those, but there's a search committee, a formal search committee that's been put together to search for that position. I know that they're going to do a good job and make a good selection.

We can't have a conversation without talking about the Buckeyes. What's your early impressions of Urban Meyer's 2015 team?

AG: I like what I see. I've been looking forward to this year. After last season, to come to this season, we've got a lot of guys returning. I look at us as being extremely deep and talented. It's very difficult to repeat a national championship, but at the same time I think we have the talent in place to do that. Again, it'll be hard to do, but if we can stay focused, we got a very good chance of doing that. But first, you've gotta take care of one game at a time, as the old cliché goes, and you gotta be focused each and every time. Because it'll be very difficult to get up each and every game, but you've gotta be up enough to make sure you get through those thing. I think Urban does a wonderful job of preparing his teams for the games each and every week. I feel good about it, but again, it's a difficult thing to do. This team has the talent to get it done.

Did you get a feeling or a sense toward the end of last season that Ohio State would be able to go on and win the national championship, especially when things went so far south early against Virginia Tech?

AG: In all honesty, I thought it would be very, very difficult. After losing to Virginia Tech, I didn't know that we would get the shot. I say that because Virginia Tech started losing games and that didn't make us look good. We played so strong after that game that people had to consider us. When J.T. (Barrett) got hurt in that Michigan game, we had to go play the Big Ten Championship Game, I think it was one of those situations where we had to have a very, very strong showing to be picked for the College Football Final Four. We had that strong showing with that 59-0 victory over Wisconsin, and I gotta say, nobody expected that type of victory. I'd expected we'd win that game, but I didn't see us winning that game 59-0 and, quite frankly, we had to do that to get in to that championship field.

Do you notice any similarities between Meyer and Woody Hayes, your head coach?

AG: I tell you what: The similarities are that they're both pretty doggone intense coaches. They do a wonderful job of preparing their teams for the opponent. I think you have to have that in a head coach and Coach Meyer, he's the ultimate. He's got all the credentials that you would want in a coach. He's now won another national championship after having won two at Florida and now won one there. He knows what it takes to be a success and he's brought that to Ohio State. He's brought a ton of talent to Ohio State. We've always had great talent, but he's even continued to step it up. I think that's incredible what he's done and the future looks extremely bright for us with Urban Meyer as coach and him bringing in the type of talent that he's bringing in to Ohio State.

Do you think any team you played on at Ohio State could compete with last years team, or even this years team?

AG: (Laughs) I don't know why people ask that question, you know I'm going to say yes. I think we could have, yes. It was a different time and it's hard to say, but because it was a different time, I'm going to say yes. Because I feel pretty good about the teams I played on as well. Those guys were extremely good. We had talent such as big John Hicks, who was runner up in the Heisman Trophy. Randy Gradishar was a great All-American for us at Ohio State and then for the Denver Broncos. We had Brian Baschnagel who was kind of what the H-back is for us today. We called him the wing back. Had a great quarterback in Cornelius Greene, so we had some outstanding talent and there certainly was some outstanding talent on last year's team. I gotta tell you, I believed in my guys, too. Having all the things that they have today, yeah, I think we would have competed well. But all that, you'll never know.

There's plenty of talk and high expectations for this team right now, being the first-ever unanimous No. 1 in the AP Poll. Is that merited? Do you think that there's any team relatively close to Ohio State right now?

AG: I think the season has to be played. It's way too early to decide those things and all of those polls are a little premature in my opinion. I think you gotta see how folks play. I think we're going to play well, I think we are certainly one of the most talented teams in the country, if not the most talented team, but again you gotta play the games. You gotta see how focused you can be during the course of a year. I gotta believe that we will be focused. I say that because the leadership on that team and the leadership that we have on our coaching staff. So I feel real good about it, but it's still way too early to say who's going to do what and how great this team is really going to be. I think it can be great, I think the talent is there to be great, but to do it, you gotta do it week in and week out.

One talented player on the team is Ezekiel Elliott, who is an early season Heisman Trophy candidate. What are your thoughts on him? How does his game compare to yours? Do you see any similarities there?

AG: Well, Ezekiel is certainly bigger than I was. I played at about 185 pounds and certainly Zeke is much bigger than that. He's fast, extremely fast. He's got all the tools. He catches the ball well, he blocks well, he's extremely fast, he's got good moves, he seems to make the right move at the right time. I like Ezekiel Elliott. I think he's the best back in the country. I really believe that if he's used the way that I think we're going to use him, that he's certainly will be a leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy and could possibly win it. I think he's that good. Something that might hurt us a little bit is that we've got so many that could win the Heisman Trophy. When you look at our quarterback, whoever that quarterback is, and then look at Braxton Miller, who had an outstanding performance against Virginia Tech. He impressed everybody and it was great to see him get the Most Valuable Player for the Week in the Big Ten. It's really going to be interesting to see how this season shakes out. But the fact that we've got so much talent is something that will help us certainly as the season goes on and it'll give us a chance to be where we will last year.

You were on the sidelines jumping up and down with excitement during Elliott's 85-yard touchdown run against Alabama. Is that something that still burns in you every single Saturday, regardless who Ohio State's playing?

AG: Oh, yeah. I love seeing our Buckeyes perform and seeing them perform up to our ability because it's just fun to watch. When you watched Zeke run that 80-yard touchdown Monday, it just brought it all back to me. He was starting off where he left off at the end of last season and that's exciting. I look forward to it. I think there's a lot to look forward to this year and Buckeye Nation will be proud of what these Buckeyes will do this year.

The alumni band is set to perform Saturday at the Hawai'i game. Are there any other special events going on this weekend?

AG: This is the week for the alumni and the band, to see all those Script Ohios performed by the alumni band and the whole works and that's special in itself. I think people love seeing that. To see the excitement that Ohio State alumni have about coming back to the stadium and doing wonderful things that they do when all those people get together. A lot of different colleges will be having alumni tailgates and things like that. That's a fun time.