'06 OH WR Josh Chichester (Louisville signee)

[bucksn'boobs]

lol well at 6'8" 205 pounds I think it'd be very tough to put him at tight end for 2 reasons. 1) he's pretty tall and it'd be hard for him to block 260 pound ends who can get under his pads, and 2) with his build I don't see him going over 225-240 pounds and thats probably still too light to match up at Tight End... IMO he's a reciever all the way when it comes to football...

After seeing his videos, I would also say WR, not TE. He looks like a true WR in the videos, and definitely uses his size to "box out" DB's. The dude seems to have legit WR speed, and gets off the line quickly. I expected to see someone who needed to grow into his body, but came away surprised at how great his hands, speed, and body control are. I really don't see him lining up next to tackle. He will give people fits, ala Plexiglass Burress.

 

[buckalum01]

Why would a coach do that? A football kid is free to the BBall program. You don't have to start him, but why not give him a shot?

Maybe I'm wrong, or I have my info confussed, but I thought if a kid were to accept a scholarship from OSU for football, and then walk-on in BBall, his scholarship would actually count against the smaller of the two programs-- in this case it would count againt bball.

Maybe someone can enlighten me on this?

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Maybe I'm wrong, or I have my info confussed, but I thought if a kid were to accept a scholarship from OSU for football, and then walk-on in BBall, his scholarship would actually count against the smaller of the two programs-- in this case it would count againt bball.

Maybe someone can enlighten me on this?

The size of the sport has nothing to do with it.....if a player accepts a football scholie, he counts for football and the same for basketball...

rivals.com (free)

7/1/05

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2>July 1, 2005
Chichester will be big man on OSU's campus <HR width="100%" noShade SIZE=1></TD></TR><TR><TD>Mike Wachsman
BuckeyeSports.com Staff Writer </TD><TD noWrap align=right> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
What he thought would be a difficult decision became easy for Josh Chichester, especially after attending the Ohio State football camp last weekend.

<!--Start Image--><SCRIPT language=Javascript>document.write(insertImage('/IMAGES/PROSPECT/PHOTO/JOSHCHICHESTER4_11200.JPG', '', 0, 267, 200, 1, 'West Chester Lakota West\'s Josh Chichester surprised many by giving a verbal commitment to play football at Ohio State.', 'Rivals.com', 1120225290000, '', 1014, 'Align=Left'));</SCRIPT><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=208 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=202>

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</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>Rivals.com</TD></TR><TR><TD height=3>

</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>West Chester Lakota West's Josh Chichester surprised many by giving a verbal commitment to play football at Ohio State.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- End Image-->Chichester, a 6-foot-8, 210-pound receiver from West Chester (Ohio) Lakota West, gave a verbal commitment to Ohio State late yesterday, giving the football program six commitments for the class of 2006.

"It was just a good fit," Chichester told BuckeyeSports.com. "I saw the campus, liked the coaches and just got along real well with everyone."

Chichester is known primarily as a basketball player for Lakota West, and with averages of 13.1 points and 8.2 rebounds, that's understandable.

But he wants it known that at Ohio State, he's a football player first.

"I'm going to work real hard on football," Chichester said. "Basketball might be part of the deal, or it might not. I don't know that right now."

Should he play hoops, he wouldn't count against the scholarship total for basketball, which means Thad Matta could still reel in another big catch in the 2006 class.

As for football, Chichester has just one goal.

"I want to be the best receiver out there," he said. "I'm big, I can get downfield, I can go up over DBs. I think I have it all."

Chichester chose the Buckeyes over Illinois, Louisville and Notre Dame. He will make an official announcement at a press conference later today.

 

[buckalum01]

I don't know what I was thinking then. I thought I had heard that somewhere, but I defer to you guys. Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

"I want to be the best receiver out there," he said. "I'm big, I can get downfield, I can go up over DBs. I think I have it all."

I'm liking Josh more and more. He may not be all that fast now, but get him around Ginn and under the tutelage of Coach Reynolds for a couple years and look out. I see no problem in him shaving .2 off his 40 and getting under 4.5...maybe even a tad faster.

Irazarry (sp?) didn't look too thick. Does anyone know what his playing weight at TE was?

IIRC, 230-235. I think Izzy was 6'5". However, Izzy had a slightly bigger frame and could've gotten a lot bigger had he and the staff wanted him to. I think Chichester would be best at around 230 or so and stay at WR...his frame is just too narrow to carry 260-270, which is what he'd have to get up to in order be a solid TE, with his 6'8" height.

 

[BB73]

The size of the sport has nothing to do with it.....if a player accepts a football scholie, he counts for football and the same for basketball...

If an athlete plays football and basketball, the scholarship counts toward football, regardless of which sport offered him first. The NCAA has a pecking order for 2-sport athletes, so football and basketball coaches can't save schollies by placing guys on the track/baseball/wrestling/whatever team.

Football comes first, basketball is second, after that nobody usually cares.

Xevious quoted the NCAA rule number in post 12 of Josh's basketball thread.

 

[Oh8ch]

I second BB73s interpretation. Football schollies are freebies to all other sports.

 

[gbearbuck]

I hope he gets faster... with that height he could be a great weapon in short yardage situations. Try to guard against a fade to the back of the endzone against a 6-8 guy with ups (I assume he has some sort of decent vertical if he also plays B-Ball)...

BB73,

The scholie counts against the sport that generates the most revenue. Simple as that.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

BB73,

The scholie counts against the sport that generates the most revenue. Simple as that.

That's not the rule. I would bet that Duke generates more revenue with their basketball program than their football program, as does UConn, and probably several others. The NCAA specifically states a pecking order, and not a per-school whatever-sport-earns-the-most-coin choice.

 

[gbearbuck]

Mili,

Good point about Duke, UConn. etc.

If that is true, why doesn't Duke offer several stud B-Ball players football scholies? They could do the same thing Woody did in the 50's/60's, stockpile all the B-Ball talent...

 

[Oh8ch]

Because Mike Krukajuski is an honorable man.

 

[GoBucks89]

Because Mike Krukajuski is an honorable man.

Have you come to praise him, or bury him?

 

[RockyMntBuck]

NCAA regulations assign scholarship by the higher revenue sport as determined by all NCAA schools, not based on individual school revenue.

So it goes football, then basketball, then a few others (swimming/field hockey/etc), then the rest however you want.

Here are the formal regulations:

2004-05 NCAA Division 1 Manual:

15.5 MAXIMUM INSTITUTIONAL GRANT-IN-AID LIMITATIONS BY SPORT

15.5.1 Counters. A student-athlete shall be a counter and included in the maximum awards limitations set forth in this bylaw under the following conditions. (Revised: 6/10/04)

(a) Athletics Aid. A student-athlete who receives financial aid based in any degree upon athletics ability shall become a counter for the year during which the student-athlete receives the financial aid:

15.5.4.1 Men’s Basketball. There shall be a limit of 13 on the total number of counters in men’s basketball at each institution. (Adopted: 1/10/91 effective 8/1/92, Revised: 4/27/00 effective 8/1/01, 11/01/01,4/29/04 effective 8/1/04)

15.5.5.1 Division I-A Football. [I-A] There shall be an annual limit of 25 on the number of initial counters (per Bylaw 15.02.3.1) and an annual limit of 85 on the total number of counters (including initial counters) in the sport of football at each Division I-A institution. (Revised: 1/10/91 effective 8/1/92)

15.5.8 Multisport Participants

15.5.8.1 Football [I-A/I-AA]. In football, a counter who was recruited and/or offered financial aid to participate in football and who participates (practices or competes) in football and one or more sports (including basketball) shall be counted in football. A counter who was not recruited and/or offered financial aid to participate in football and who competes in football and one or more sports (including basketball) shall be counted in football. (Revised: 1/10/95 effective 8/1/95, 1/9/96 effective 8/1/96)

A counter who previously has not been counted in football shall be considered an initial counter even though the student-athlete already has received countable financial aid in another sport.

15.5.8.2 Basketball. A counter who practices or competes in basketball and one or more other sports (other than football) shall be counted in basketball.

 

[FritoBandito]

If that is true, why doesn't Duke offer several stud B-Ball players football scholies?

Great point, especially since Greg Paulus should be devoting himself to football, not basketball, anyway.

Back to Chichester...

I fell in love with Josh when I first learned last year that tOSU was recruiting a 6'8" receiver with legitimate athletic skills. Then I watched him play. Two observations: 1) He really can play football. He's got good instincts, moves well and gets where he's supposed to be when the ball's thrown his way. 2) He really is 6' friggin' 8"! Yikes. What an advantage!? In his film, you see DBs covering him like a cheap suit, frequently a double-breasted suit. They don't cover him really, they glom on to him. They attach themselves like kids in the three-legged race at a church picnic. And still he makes the catches. In the tightest double coverage, guys all over him, he makes the catches. Because... he's 6' friggin' 8"!

I don't pretend to know if he'll prove to be another Randy Moss (you'll start seeing the comparisons over on Bucknuts any minute now, if they haven't started already) but it will sure be fun watching him try. The media gurus always used to say "You can't coach speed." Then JT hired Butch Reynolds. Now maybe they'll say, in 2007, as they struggle to explain how tOSU could possibly win three NCs in five years, "You can't coach height."

Welcome to Buckeye Nation, Josh. Study hard, do what your coaches ask, and enjoy the ride!

PS -- This must be some kind of record: the average height of kids committing to tOSU this week is over 6' 7". Awesome, baby!

 

[Taosman]

My first thought was, "He'll never play a down but he'll be an excellent BB player!" After seeing his pics and reading more, I'm thinking, This guy could be another Rickey Dudley! Which would be VERY good, indeed! Or a Mike Williams clone! VERY good also!