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10/6/05

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=12></TD><TD class=main vAlign=top><SCRIPT ******************** src="insert.js" type=text/**********></SCRIPT><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD colSpan=2>October 6, 2005
Did the Buckeyes visit Norman Whitley? <HR width="100%" noShade SIZE=1></TD></TR><TR><TD>Chris Nida
BuckeyeSports.com Staff Writer </TD><TD noWrap align=right> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
With the Ohio State football team off last Saturday, the coaching staff branched out around the country to check out some of the Buckeyes' top recruiting targets.

<!--Start Image--><SCRIPT ********************>document.write(insertImage('/IMAGES/PROSPECT/PHOTO/NORMANWHITLEY3_1A200.JPG', '', 0, 267, 200, 1, 'Norman Whitley was told somebody from Ohio State was in town to watch his game last weekend, and a coach from North Carolina was definitely present as well.', 'Rivals.com', 1128610231000, '', 1014, 'Align=Left'));</SCRIPT><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=208 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=202></TD><TD width=6 rowSpan=4></TD></TR><TR><TD align=right>Rivals.com</TD></TR><TR><TD height=3></TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>Norman Whitley was told somebody from Ohio State was in town to watch his game last weekend, and a coach from North Carolina was definitely present as well.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- End Image-->In the week leading up to that off-weekend, Rockingham (N.C.) Richmond County running back Norman Whitley said he was expecting to see an OSU representative at his game.

So, did the Buckeyes in fact make it down?

"I've been hearing a lot of word that they did make it down," said Whitley. "From what I heard from people who had seen him, they said they saw them when they were standing there (on the sidelines). They didn't get a chance to come up to me after the game – people told me the college coaches left at halftime or in the third quarter – but I'm thinking that they did make it down."

As of Tuesday evening, Whitley said he had not heard from the Ohio State coaches – who usually contact him via e-mail – to get any feedback on his performance.

Whitley's rushing totals approached 200 hundred yards, and he scored two touchdowns in his team's runaway victory last Friday night, but one mistake put a bit of a damper on the evening.

"It was a fumble on the 1-yard line," Whitley said. "I got the ball and I was hit and it knocked the ball loose. That was the only thing that caused my downfall. Other than that I thought I played pretty good, but you never know how somebody else might look at it."

If the Buckeyes did in fact check out Whitley this past weekend, they weren't alone. North Carolina also observed last Friday night's game, and a coach from Virginia stopped by the school earlier on game-day.

"They're starting to kick it in," Whitley said of the Cavaliers. "I'm going to get down there sometime. I think I'm going to go down for the Virginia Tech game."

Other schools beginning to show increasing interest in the nation's No. 23 running back include South Carolina and Oregon. But at 5-8, 177 pounds, Whitley still wouldn't mind being OSU's backfield complement to 6-1, 228-pound Chris Wells.

"I feel like I can come in and be that speedy back that they have and he can be the big power back that they have," Whitley said. "That's what I'm hoping. I'm crossing my fingers down here hoping for that."
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