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Nice get. Give him a year in weight room and he will be an animal
Defensive tackle picks OSU over Michigan
Monday, December 19, 2005
Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
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After Dex Larimore decided to make Ohio State his college choice yesterday, the rest of his afternoon was a downhill slide. Soon after becoming the 10 th member of OSU’s 2006 football recruiting class, he went snow shooshing on saucers with some friends in Merrillville, Ind. Now the 6-foot-3, 270-pound defensive tackle hopes the next couple of months leading up to signing day will be smooth sliding, after picking Ohio State over Michigan.
"It was fun for a little bit, getting recruited by two nationally ranked schools. They’re both just awesome schools," Larimore said. "But eventually it got to be pretty hectic at my house. I just decided to go ahead and get it over with."
He chose OSU because "I felt it was just overall a better fit for me."
The Buckeyes were after him probably for a similar reason. Larimore, with 4.85-second speed in the 40-yard dash, is known for his quickness off the ball and tenacity. Despite playing in the interior line, he had 88 tackles this season.
"His commitment is pretty important for the Buckeyes for a couple of reasons," said Bill Kurelic, Midwest recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. "They didn’t have any defensive linemen committed before this, and he is one of the best in the Midwest. Also, the Buckeyes beat out their archrival for him."
Larimore — a lifelong Michigan fan, by the way — made the team he grew up rooting against squirm a bit first. When he called Ohio State’s Doc Tressel — his recruiting coach and the older brother of head coach Jim Tressel — at about 10 p.m., Larimore somberly told him he had decided to attend Michigan.
“Oh, that’s a heartbreaker,” the elder Tressel said. “Really?”
Then Larimore let him off the hook.
“He thought it was funny,” Larimore said. “It was a good laugh.”
Larimore then spoke with Ohio State defensive line coach Jim Heacock. By then, it was too late to talk with Jim Tressel, but Larimore expects to do so soon.
Larimore broke the news to his recruiting coach at Michigan on Sunday afternoon.
“They really thought I was going to go there, but they respected my decision,” he said. “They didn’t try to push me.”
While she liked Carr, Theresia Larimore said Jim Tressel’s “moral values” won her over.
“He’s a very religious man,” she said. “I felt like trusting him with my son five hours away was something I could do with him. A lot of times with parental decisions, it just comes down to instinct.”
Larimore will likely redshirt next year as he gets acclimated to life in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes have authorized him to continue wrestling and to participate in the track season and the IFCA All-Star Football Classic in July.
For now, the most immediate impact will come in the form of gifts — “I guess I’ll get a lot of Ohio State stuff for Christmas,” he said — and rest.
“I think I’ll get more sleep now,” he said. “It’s been a tough time. It was pretty intense. Coaches coming in and visiting and talking — now I’ll know what I’m doing and I can call my coach and get my workout regimen and all that good stuff. It’s more focused now.”
The Post-Tribune Defensive Player of the Year and first-team offensive lineman will be a defensive linemen for the Buckeyes next fall.