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RB Chris "Beanie" Wells (All B1G, All-American)

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Nation's No. 1 recruit can learn from OSU's No. 13
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</TD><TD noWrap>Jan. 25, 2006
By Dennis Dodd
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer
Tell Dennis your opinion!




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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- T9187742 --><!-- Sesame Modified: 01/25/2006 15:17:48 --><!-- sversion: 6 $Updated: cstanke$ -->Most people don't know Chris Wells from Dawn Wells. One cavorted around Gilligan's Island as Mary Ann. One is about to cavort through Big Ten defenses as The Next Big Thing.
If he's lucky.
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</TD><TD width=15></TD></TR><TR><TD width=150>A recruiting guru says Chris Wells is 'Maurice Clarett without the baggage.' </TD><TD width=15></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Chris Wells is arguably this year's best high school player in the country. The title carries more weight than Louie Anderson. The Akron running back will make Ohio State's day when he signs with the Buckeyes next Wednesday.
All the potential, all the power, all the promise.
Is anyone else noticing some slight similarities to a certain unlucky No. 13? Native son of Ohio. Projected freshman sensation. The difference, perhaps, in a championship for the Buckeyes.
"He's Maurice Clarett without the baggage," said recruiting guru Tom Lemming.
Whoa. There, he said it. Turn on the angst faucet, Columbus. Feel free, Buckeye Nation, to retract the high fives for now. The program, the state, the nation, really, have been here before.
Clarett's spectacular fall from grace would frighten a Walenda. Baggage? It's a cautionary tale doused with kerosene. Wells comes with great character references, that's true -- 3.0 student, probably great with kids and cats trapped in trees, too. But pardon us skeptical columnists for being, well, skeptical columnists.
Again, the disclaimer: This is nothing personal against Wells. The product of a working-class family, he is one of 10 children. His dad works in shipping at a metal factory. Mom drives a van for the school district.
There isn't a hint of pretense about the kid. Neither parent attended college. Two siblings have been to college. One dropped out, according to one report, because the family couldn't afford it.
But out of habit from covering national signing days for the last 20 years, I've developed enough muscle memory to lock my jaws to keep from drooling over can't-misses.
Instead, here's a couple of helpful hints from me to you. Ignore them if you want, Chris, but it would be wise to use that utter failure in recent Buckeye history as a reference.
First, do not argue with assistant coaches on the sideline. No matter how many yards you cover, you're a kid, a teenager. Show some respect.
Do not call the school administration "liars" (see the 2002 Fiesta Bowl).
It would be advisable, no matter how good you are in '06, not to take on the NFL and declare for the draft after your freshman year.
But if you do, please, please, please do your research. Do not hire a lawyer and/or agent whose credentials are basically a degree from Brown Mackie College. Oh, and be prepared to run better than a 4.8 40 at the combine.
<TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=2 width="40%" align=left border=0><TBODY><TR class=bg0><TD>SportsLine.com's top 10 </TD></TR><TR class=bg4><TD>Current recruiting rankings </TD></TR><TR class=bg2><TD>1. Florida </TD></TR><TR class=bg2><TD>2. Texas </TD></TR><TR class=bg2><TD>3. Notre Dame </TD></TR><TR class=bg2><TD>4. Penn State </TD></TR><TR class=bg2><TD>5. USC </TD></TR><TR class=bg2><TD>6. Georgia </TD></TR><TR class=bg2><TD>7. LSU </TD></TR><TR class=bg2><TD>8. Michigan </TD></TR><TR class=bg2><TD>9. Mississippi </TD></TR><TR class=bg2><TD>10. Pittsburgh </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Just stay away, Chris, from unscrupulous runners. You'll recognize them as the Chess King-outfitted mouth-breathers who start conversations, "Pssst, kid..." a lot. If you're any good, they'll be around soon enough.
Oh yeah, almost forgot. Dismiss any idea of trumping up a used-car theft report with the cops. And never, ever rob people outside a Columbus bar where everyone knows you.
Simple rules to follow, it would seem. But you'd be surprised, Chris, how your predecessors can miss. Or at least not fulfill their signing day promise. There are recruiting busts every year in the inexact science you are currently experiencing. Take Fred Rouse. Last year at this time Rouse was the No. 6 player in the country headed to Florida State. This native son (from Tallahassee!) with 4.4 speed basically had to cross the street to find fame.
Last week he was kicked off the team. Turns out the kid had a little Maurice in him. Rouse's first strike was a one-game suspension after arguing with coaches during a loss to Virginia.
Oh, and there's Ryan Perilloux, who said he wanted to compete for the Heisman as a freshman quarterback. We're not sure, but maybe Perilloux watched the Heisman ceremony on TV. Otherwise, he cooled his heels as a freshman at LSU. And with JaMarcus Russell returning as the starter, there's no guarantee Perilloux will see the field in '06.
Forget last year, let's look at the rivals.com top 10 list from 2004. For every Adrian Peterson -- No. 2 in Heisman voting as a freshman after being the nation's No. 1 recruit -- there is an Xavier Lee. While not a bust at Florida State, Lee was the No. 10 player in the country two years ago and is currently backing up rivals' No. 88 player -- Drew Weatherford.
Is that being too harsh on a kid with two years of eligibility left? Not when fans have been conditioned to expect an immediate return on their recruiting dollar.
It's about to get a lot more complicated, Chris. It won't be easy, even when it's all going your way. College, money and fame sometimes do funny things to people.
Check with rivals.com's No. 37 player in 2001. Like you, he was the best prep running back in the country. Like you, he's from Ohio. Like you, he went to Ohio State.
Maybe it's simple as this: Don't wear No. 13, Chris. It's unlucky.
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Sounds as though Dodd had no story, so he made one up. If he had a point to this column, I missed it. I'd read it again to check... but I think I lost brain cells the first time.

I knew better than to read one of his senseless columns
 
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I feel sorry for Mr. Dodd. Jealousy is bad emotion to have. I don't know the history on this guy like you all probably do but it is pretty obvious to me that he has something against tOSU. Wells sounds like a genuine good kid. It's pretty pathetic that Mr. Dodd feels need to write a such a biased article like that. Maybe when Chris is in the NFL he can send Mrs. Dodd an autographed picture to hang on the frig!
 
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I see nothing wrong with Dodd's article, really. I mean, he's got a job to do--sportswriters have been comparing different athletes with common links since the beginning of time (and it happens all the time on BP with recruits, i.e. "Player X smells like the next Mike Doss" or "this 'insert white WR here' reminds me of Joe Jurevicious). Wells, like Clarett, is a big bruising back, and he's first very highly rated RB recruit to come to OSU since Clarett -- hence the comparison.

bucknut11 said:
So because he's a highly rated Ohio running back going to OSU he gets these comparisons? Good journalism, Mr. Dodd. :shake:
Click to expand...

Chances are, the next really highly rated Ohio running back recruit to come to OSU after Wells will not be compared to Clarett, but rather to Chris Wells. I'm willing to bet that Chris Wells will cast a much larger, and more laudable, shadow.
 
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I don't think Dodd has anything against Ohio State and he often says positive things about the Buckeyes. But, there's a lot wrong with the article and it appears that his preparation was very poor.

Why would anyone compare Wells to Clarett? Anyone who has examined their academic performance in high school, their behavior during interviews, their family situations, the way the parents conduct themselves and the moral values their appearance and communications present--in fact any of the observable characteristics of these two kids at the same age or their families--would conclude that there are a LOT of differences between Wells and Clarett.

Why not compare Wells to another Columbus product who was supposed to be the real deal (e.g., Brady Quinn) or to another promising running back from humble means (e.g., Eddie George)? Why draw attention to the fact one sibling had to withdraw from university due to lack of money? Why invade the privacy of a high school student and his family in such a way?

Note to Mr Dodd. We know that you will read this thread. This was a very unprofessional article. You didn't prepare well. The parallels that you draw between these two kids are not accurate. You know it. We know it.

It is surprising that someone of your calibre would use innuendo to take a cheap shot at a good kid by comparing him to a thug who never belonged in college football.

This was an indecent welcome to college sports for Beanie Wells, who should be a role model for all that can go right for a kid with modest beginnings. He didn't deserve this. For goodness sakes, no high school kid would deserve such treatment.

Dennis, Trev Alberts once shared your cynical view of life and believed that his role was writ so large that he could do such things. Where is he now? Construction? This article was not your finest moment in sports journalism and you hurt your own credibility a lot by writing it.
 
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Here, this article will make for Dodd's mess...

Detroit Free Press

Preps

BEST OF THE MIDWEST 2006: Built to last

January 27, 2006


BY MARK SNYDER
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER

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<!-- SIDEBAR PHOTOS AND FACT BOXES --><!-- ARTICLE SIDEBAR --><!--MAIN PHOTO--><!--MAIN FACTS BOX--> He's No. 1
  • Get to know Chris Wells, 17, a 6-foot-2, 230-pound receiver out of Akron (Ohio) Garfield:

    Nickname: Beanie, from the TV show "The New Adventures of Beans Baxter."

    Hobbies: Playing Xbox, including "Madden NFL 06."

    Favorite foods: Pasta, pizza, peanut butter and jelly, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal.

    Family: Parents, James and Paulette; 11 brothers and sisters. Former U-M running back Billy Taylor is his uncle.

    Car: Green Ford Taurus, with a license plate that reads "Beanie W."

    Favorite run: Against Akron East in 2005, on fourth-and-10, he told his coach to give him the ball and was dragged nearly to the ground by three tacklers. He kept his knee up, broke free and scored a 67-yard touchdown.

    Times: 40-meter, 4.7 seconds; 10-meter, 1.7 (pro-timed).

    What they think: "When Chris walked through our door, we thought he was an NFL running back," said Eric Lichter, one of the trainers at the Speed Strength facility in Euclid, Ohio. "He reminded me of another kid we had here from Akron, LeBron James."
<!--ADDITIONAL FACTS--> HOW THEY RANK
  • Best of the Midwest

    1. Chris Wells, RB, Akron (Ohio) Garfield

    2. Brandon Graham, LB, Detroit Crockett

    3. Demetrius Jones, QB, Chicago Morgan Park

    4. Justin Boren, OL, Pickerington (Ohio) North

    5. Aaron Brown, OT, Cincinnati Princeton

    6. Jake Bscherer, OT/DT, Sturgeon Bay, Wis.

    7. Isiah Williams, QB, Chicago Vocational

    8. Jamie Cumbie, DT/TE, Morris, Ill.

    9. Steve Brown, CB, Columbus (Ind.) East

    10. Robert Rose, DE, Cleveland Glenville
  • Meet the entire team, all 20 players, Page 11D. Past teams, Page 10D.
    Mick McCabe's Fab 50

    1. Brandon Graham, LB, Detroit Crockett

    2. Dominique Douglas, WR, Detroit Murray-Wright

    3. Obi Ezeh, LB, Grand Rapids Catholic

    4. Quintin Woods, DE, Flint Southwestern Academy

    5. Quintin Patilla, LB, Flint Carman-Ainsworth

    6. Jeff Lindsay, LB, Macomb L'Anse Creuse North

    7. Patrick Rigan, DE, Traverse City St. Francis

    8. Adrian Cannon, WR, Auburn Hills Avondale

    9. Eric Gordon, LB, Traverse City West

    10. Michael Canfield, QB, Lansing Everett
<!-- BODY TEXT --> <!--ARTICLE BODY TEXT--> AKRON, Ohio -- Everyone remembers their first Chris Wells sighting.
For most, it was surprising, even shocking. For some, it was awe-inspiring.
For Bob Sax, Akron Garfield's football coach, it was a bit embarrassing.
"I had never really heard of him," Sax recalled last week in the school's football office. "I got announced as the head coach in the last week of May (2002), and that Saturday I had a meeting planned for incoming freshmen. I'm in the cafeteria and here comes a dad with an obvious son who was going to be a freshman and another kid. I just assumed it was his older brother."
So Sax, being the dutiful new coach, handed an information sheet to incoming freshman Joey Wells, said hello to the father, James Wells, and ignored the apparent college kid.
Chris Wells just stood there, waiting.
"About 10, 15 seconds later, Chris said, 'Coach, I want to sign up, too,' " Sax said. "I kind of laughed and said, 'You're pulling my leg, you've got to be 18 or 19 years old.' "
At 6-feet, 180 pounds, Wells looked every bit like an 18- or 19-year-old. But he was 13, and he wanted to play football.
"I couldn't get that piece of paper in his hand fast enough," Sax said, laughing.
That was the last time anyone ignored Chris Wells, the nation's top high school running back.
Now a 6-foot-2, 230-pound mass of muscle, speedy and unimaginably athletic, Wells is the No. 1 player on the Free Press' 18th annual Best of the Midwest team. Picked through input from college recruiting coordinators, that title seems a bit limiting for the 17-year-old, who has started since his freshman year.
Scout.com rates Wells as the nation's No. 1 high school football recruit. And every Ohio State fan crammed within the Buckeye borders knows Wells is coming next fall, and most know he'll be moving down next week to enroll for the spring quarter.
But they may not know that he probably won't answer to Christopher Wells.
Around Akron, he has and will always be "Beanie." His parents, James and Paulette, figure it came from an older brother's take off the television show "The New Adventures of Beans Baxter" and dropped it on him moments after he was born an 8-pound, 10-ounce boy. (There was some discussion about Sharkey, but Paulette quickly shot that down.)
Birthday cards are addressed to Beanie. Ohio State coach Jim Tressel calls him Beanie. The lighted road sign in his front yard -- rented by Paulette as a present last week honoring Wells' U.S. Army All-American game performance -- says "All-American MVP, Beanie, Love You, Next Stop OSU."
Everyone here just knows.
When he's dragging three defenders into the end zone, capping a three-touchdown day at the Army's high school football showcase Jan. 7. When he's working out with NFL combine hopefuls at Euclid, Ohio's Speed Strength facility. Or even when he's hearing his name chanted, as it was at an Ohio State basketball game last year, he's just Beanie.
"Chris Wells is his football name," James said. "Beanie is his real name."
The attention hasn't disturbed his life too much yet. Though he's done with high school after attending summer school the past two years to graduate early, he's glad to be "exploited."
In December, that meant playing Santa at Garfield, until everyone discovered who was under the beard. And just last week, he sat at Luni's restaurant in Akron with an older person's group and played checkers, getting whooped by one of the older men. Though he hated losing, he liked that they just thought of him as Beanie.
"There are times it can be tough with the expectations people have," Wells said. "For our first game this season, the paper made us the No. 1 team in the area."
When he rushed for "only" 101 yards and no touchdowns, Wells felt like he let down his team. His five-touchdown performance the next week and season totals of 2,134 yards and 27 touchdowns more than redeemed him, but the pressure only increases from here.
The Columbus talk already centers around Wells becoming an immediate part of the powerful offense, even though former Akron Buchtel running back Antonio Pittman shined in the Buckeyes' final few games.
Wells wants no part of that discussion. He's confident enough in his ability that he'll earn whatever he deserves, but anyone who has seen him play can't imagine any back will keep him on the bench.
Given his size, it always has been that obvious. As a sophomore, his potential got him, Sax and a few other Garfield kids into Michigan's spring practice and got Sax a meeting in U-M coach Lloyd Carr's office. Last year, Wells got an in-school visit from Carr, rare for a junior.
His talent forced Ohio State to put every allowable resource into securing Wells.
But Wells was more than willing to stay close to home after watching the Buckeyes knock off Michigan at Ohio Stadium in 2004, and then hearing his name chanted by fans three months later at the campus basketball arena.
In the recruiting world, Wells is gold, so good that he's still moving up recruiting lists even though he committed to the Buckeyes last February.
"It just felt like home. I liked the coaching staff and just felt comfortable there," Wells said, adding that Southern Cal, a runner-up with U-M, was just too far away.
Akron's former greatest running back, Ricky Powers, nearly waited until signing day to commit to U-M when he was the Free Press' top Best of the Midwest player in 1990. And after four years in the Big Ten and a few in the NFL, he knows that Wells' talent is the real thing.
Last season, Powers was an assistant football coach at Akron Central-Hower and warned his defenders, "If you hit this kid high, you're going to die."
"Right now he's a raw talent," Powers said. "If he was coached like he will be, he'd be on ESPN every night, right now."
But the Wells family has no plans to dwell on the celebrity.
The parents and seven children live in a small house on Akron's south side. Chris has his own room, but nothing in the house indicates anything near the riches that could come his way in a few years.
Even with a grown man's full beard and arms bigger than 90% of NFL running backs, he still has to attend the weekly family meetings. He's still required to wash the dishes and, until he moves to Columbus on Feb. 4, he still has a curfew every night.
"We tell all the kids, if you want to be someone, treat people the same way going up as you will coming back down," said Paulette, whose large brothers provided the magical gene pool. "Sometimes people get so high up there, they forget where they come from. We're just humble, poor people. We don't have this fancy house or fancy cars, but what we've got is ours and I tell the kids, you don't have to have everything. Just be who you are."
Across the nation, that's Chris Wells, monster running back, the nation's best high school player. In Akron, and especially with his family, that's just Beanie.
Contact MARK SNYDER at 313-223-3210 or [email protected].
 
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