COLUMBUS, Ohio -- No identification was needed to get in the door. All the fashionably-dressed bouncers required was a one-shot minimum to enter the party.

Of course, the guests of honor had no choice as they got off the bus reporting for training camp. The tough guys working the door were strength coaches. And the drink was Gatorade for the Ohio State football players heading into Club Buckeye, the latest effort to keep things light from a program that has left little doubt it knows how to balance work and play as it gears up to defend its national title.

“Club Buckeye, it shocked me when I walked up,” safety Vonn Bell said. “I was still halfway asleep walking off the bus, and I was like, ‘Wow, these guys.’

“I was like, ‘Oh yeah, we going in. It was just all for fun, having a little fun with it. I like those guys.”

VIP only in Club Buckeye pic.twitter.com/Mhkynk5Ooo — Mark Pantoni (@markpantoni) August 21, 2015

The camaraderie between the Ohio State Buckeyes has frequently been on display this month, whether it’s through viral-sensation practical jokes they have played on each other, coach Urban Meyer thrilling his team by hooking them up with Skittles or frequent, surprise appearances players make during interview sessions to joke around with both the media and their teammates.

Ohio State was clearly the loosest team in the field during the College Football Playoff, and if that approach isn’t broke, there’s surely no reason to fix it.

“I mean, they do stuff like that all the time,” star running back Ezekiel Elliott said. “It’s just like camp, we’re all down and we’re tired; they do things to liven it up.

“That was just a different thing, the last day of camp. They were making sure we were on the balls of our feet, and we weren’t coming in sluggish.”

They had to get in the door first, obviously.

And the cover charge was apparently no problem for a team looking for a little figurative juice along with some literal hydration.

“You know, just had to take shots of Gatorade,” Elliott said. “ ... So when we come into the Woody [Hayes Athletic Center] we’ve got juice.”

Ohio State has been having no trouble continuing to find ways to supply it, and that might keep the party going for a while at the exclusive Club Buckeye.