COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- From a young age, Ohio State cornerback Davison Igbinosun has understood that words have power.   "I have a pretty big vocabulary, I would say that,” he said with a small smile. “Deep down, I’m a nerd a little bit. When I was younger, I used to have like an encyclopedia in my backpack." Watch: Ohio State coach Ryan Day speaks ahead of Oregon game on NBC4 That cleverness isn’t limited to the classroom, where he is an honor roll student. Igbinosun uses his smarts to his advantage on the football field, whether it’s knowing the playbook inside and out or knowing how to get under an opponent’s skin. That’s something the Buckeye wide receivers have experienced firsthand.  "You're going to feel 1 out there,” said sophomore Carnell Tate, referring to Igbinosun’s jersey number. “You're going to hear him and you're going to feel him. If he makes a play, you're going to feel him for sure."  "I feel like if I talk trash, it forces me to back it up,” Igbinosun said. “I have to be, I have to be able to back it up, I would say.”  His play is always there, even when sometimes the words aren’t.  “The stutter doesn't stop me,” Igbinosun said. “I always feel the need to express myself."  "Sometimes he's trying to bring up a word, it's not coming forth, he just walks away," explained his mother, Precious Aladi, who said her son has always had a stutter.   Buckeyes rise to No. 2 in new rankings following Week 6 He's also always had an intense determination as the youngest of five siblings growing up in New Jersey in a house where football was a way of life.   “I can remember when they were little, if you wanted them to really do something – everyone had their chores in the house – you’d be like, ‘Oh Davison, you didn’t throw out the garbage or you didn’t wash the dishes: you know what? Tomorrow there is no practice for you.’ You’d see all of them running Helter Skelter!” Aladi said with a laugh. "He is the baby, but he is very very confident. So when it comes to stutter, I don't see that as a barrier for him because what he's going to do, what he's going to say, he might take time, but he will say it."  Igbinosun said he has never had lessons on how to overcome his stutter; instead, he’s found tips and tricks that work for him.   "I try to use different words probably, like skip over it, I would say," he said.   The thing is, sometimes he doesn’t have the luxury to take a breath, especially in the high-emotion atmosphere of a game.   "If I'm asking for the play call and I'm like, ‘What, what, what's the play?'” he said demonstrating an extreme amount of stutter and laughing. “It's funny though! If I stutter crazy or excessively, then I laugh."  Expanded College Football Playoff: where Ohio State sits after Week 6 Igbinosun does admit that having a stutter and being different hasn’t always been a laughing matter. Let’s face it: kids will be kids and sometimes can be mean.   "Of course, but that doesn't stop me, though," he said with a shrug. “I’ve always been a talker on the field. Like, being from New Jersey, I feel like I grew up talking on the playground, going against all the other guys. We just naturally talk trash to each other.”   Instead of the hyper-competitive and intense football environment making things harder for Igbinosun, he said that is where he finds clarity. He makes people listen to him with his play, and his cornerback position is where he finds peace.   "I feel like it's away from everyone else,” he said. “You have to be good on an island by yourself. If I didn't play as well, people would think of me differently or think of me as but I feel like because I play well on the field, they overlook it and accept me."   That’s the message he wants to send to others, especially youngsters who may stumble: embrace who you are, all of you, and know you stand out in more ways than your stutter.  "Don't let it stop you, don't let anything stop you,” Igbinosun said. “It's not going to be easy. I tell myself that all the time. I'm still growing up as a young man so I'm not all the way there yet. Just stay the course."  "I know he is going to go far,” Aladi said with a proud smile. “I have so much confidence that he knows what he's doing. He knows where he's going."  "I would say God chose me for a reason because He knew I was going to be able to handle it and overcome it,” Igbinosun said.