OSU FOOTBALL | NOTEBOOK
A top fullback adds power to fold
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Tim May and Ken Gordon
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
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As much as Ohio State was in the spread offense last season, there was evidence yesterday the Buckeyes have no intention of abandoning power football.
Aram Olson, one of the top fullback prospects in the country, committed to sign with OSU on Feb. 1.
Olson, 6 feet 2, 245 pounds, of Irmo High School in Columbia, S.C., became the 18 th member of the OSU class.
He also completed the "i" backfield, joining Chris Wells, rated the No. 1 running back prospect in the nation by a couple of recruiting services.
"Oh, man, I don’t think it can get any better than that, having two guys with pretty much the same physical mentality," Olson said. "You’ll have two guys who really like to knock somebody’s head off out there on the field."
Playing with Wells will be a bonus, Olson said, but he really picked OSU over Florida State and others because of two reasons, the first being "how it just completely felt right on my official visit up there."
"Then the other thing, probably the biggest deciding factor, was when coach Jim Tressel met with me and my parents for two hours, one on one. Basically he just completely blew us away with what he had to say in terms of his values as a coach and what he teaches his players on and off the field."
Whether a few more recruits will fall in line remains to be seen. The Buckeyes await word from several, including linebackers Thaddeus Gibson of Euclid, Ohio, and Colin McCarthy of Clearwater (Central Catholic), Fla.; all-around athlete Anthony Bowman of Orchard Lake (St. Mary’s), Mich.; and receiver Ray Small of Cleveland (Glenville), who has said he won’t reveal his choice of OSU or Southern Cal until signing day.
A class that for a while was expected to number 18 to 20 now possibly could reach 21 or more.