Collin Moscorelli will be a part of the biggest home football game of his life Saturday, but it’s probably not precisely in the place he might have anticipated.

The 2009 Edgewood High School graduate will be part of the Toledo squad that hosts the Ohio State Buckeyes at noon. But the game becomes more of a home game than it would even have been were it to be played at the Rockets’ Glass Bowl, which seats 26,248 fans.

Because it will be played instead at Cleveland Browns Stadium, which seats 73,200 fans. It figures to be rocking, too, since in a way it is almost a home game for both Rockets and Buckeyes fans and should be filled to capacity.

“It’s going to be one of the top, most exhilarating experiences of my life,” the son of Cheryl and Jeff Moscorelli said. “Just to be there is going to be exciting.”

It may not quite measure up to what it might have been were it played in the Horseshoe in Columbus, which seats 104,976 fans, but it will be a reasonable facsimile. Moscorelli got a small taste of what it might be like last Friday when the Rockets hosted the Colorado Buffaloes, but he knows Saturday will provide a special experience.

“I dressed for the Colorado game and that was pretty exciting,” Moscorelli said. “But this is going to be a lot bigger and a lot louder than anything I’ve ever been around before.”

As a preferred walkon for Toledo, Moscorelli won’t be on the field once the game starts, but he will be participating in pregame warmups, wearing jersey number 25.

“I’ll be dressing, but I won’t be playing,” he said. “It’s still going to be special.”

Moscorelli admits his time in his five weeks on campus has been quite an eye-opening experience. The university, with its student body of 20,700, is a small city unto itself within Ohio’s fourth largest city, which includes slightly less than 317,000 people.

“It’s been pretty intense going from a small school like Edgewood (which graduates less than 200 students a year) to a big school like Toledo,” he said by phone after an evening class. “The parking lots are always jammed.”

But it’s been made all the more intense by the demands of the staff of first-year head coach Tim Beckman, who was on Jim Tressel’s coaching staff at OSU with 1973 Harbor graduate Jim Bollman and has also served on 1982 St. John graduate Urban Meyer’s staff at Bowling Green. As Moscorelli put it, he is basically playing “pro bono” (for free) as a member of the scout team each week, helping prepare the Rockets’ offense for what it will see from the opposing defense. There is no scholarship money afforded at this point.

“I’m practicing as the strongside linebacker on the scout team,” he said. “This multiplies any high school practice times 10.

“Just the speed of the practices is so much faster. Things are in constant motion.”

It all means he’s trying to simulate what OSU linebackers like Ross Homan or Austin Spitler might do.

Don’t get Moscorelli wrong, though. He’s grateful for the opportunity he’s received.

“(Edgewood) Coach (Joe) Kearney got me this chance,” he said. “I’m thankful for that.”

To prepare himself for such an opportunity, Moscorelli worked diligently in the weight room over the summer to build himself up to 6-foot, 210 pounds.

“I’m about 30 pounds heavier than I was last season,” he said. “I really hit the weight room and tried to build up as much muscle as possible.”

Moscorelli has been amazed by what is expected of someone even in his position who is not a part of the varsity squad.

“The expectations are the most eye-opening, and the amount of responsibility they place on you,” he said. “You’re expected to be to all your classes 10 minutes early and sit in the first two rows. They expect you to keep up your grades and stay out of trouble.”

That is quite a demand when Moscorelli is just starting out in what seems a very demanding major. For now, he’s working toward a bachelor’s degree in exercise science, but he has even higher hopes.

“I want to work in pre-physical therapy,” he said. “But you have to have at least a 3.8 (grade-point average) just to get into grad school.”

Everything surrounding the football side of it all is heightened, too.

“It’s amazing the amount of speed there is out there and how much more aggressive they are,” Moscorelli said.

Preparation for each game is demanding, too.

“By 1:45 (p.m.), we’re in for film study,” he said. “Then we’re out on the field until about 5:30 or 6. Then after that, there’s usually more film study, unless I have to go to class.”

At least he has some structured time each day when he finds he can at least get a good head start on his studies.

“It’s actually pretty simple,” Moscorelli said. “I have at least an hour before practice to study. And the study table is available if they think I’m having trouble or I think I need it.”

And the demands on his time aren’t as much as on varsity players.

“I don’t have to go through the seven-on-seven drills and stuff,” he said. “I definitely don’t have the amount of work the starters do.”

His credentials as a first-team linebacker on the Star Beacon Ashtabula County team last year are basically meaningless at Toledo.

“It doesn’t mean anything to these people when you see that most of those guys are at least all-state,” Moscorelli said.

His goals, at least for now, are pretty clear cut, too.

“My goal right now is to try and stay healthy and try to keep my grades up,” Moscorelli said. “I’d like to try and get up to the varsity eventually.”

But this week, he just wants to drink in the experience at Browns Stadium.

“I’m excited about it,” Moscorelli said.