LB James Laurinaitis (official thread)

[BB73]

Per the Ozone, the LOI from Minnesota's Player-of-the-Year has been received.

[BUCKWEISER]

Welcome aboard!!!

[scooter1369]

Outstanding work, guys.

[NatiBuckeye]

I am sure all of you have read Alan's comments regarding his interview with Laurinaitis, but how refreshing were they. Alan had asked him about the recognition he had received as Mr Football, and he basically was thankful, yet humble.

Any young man who is willing to say that he knows he starting right back at the bottom of the totem pole is exactly the kind of guy we want here. This completely doesn't mean to be a flame on Gwaltney at all, but I will 100% prefer guys who just want to do whatever it takes to help the team, in whatever role is required, over a guy whose primary goal is to rush for 1500 yards. When you hear a kid like Jenkins talk about how much he likes contributing on special teams, you begin to realize how these young men became Buckeyes to be.

I guess I will be the latest in a long line of Buckeye fans to consider Laurinaitis one of, if not the, biggest sleepers in this class.

Say what you will, but I feel as good as can be about not only the quality of players we have gotten, but the quality of people we have gotten.

[Hubbard]

Laurinaitis and four others sign letters of intent. - Long Lake Sun Sailor

Laurinaitis and four others sign letters of intent.
By Nick Clark
Sun Newspapers
(Created 2/10/2005 9:17:54 AM)

It had been known for quite some time, but on Feb. 2, James Laurinaitis made it official.

He's off to Columbus in the summer.

The all-everything linebacker from Wayzata high school dotted the three i's and crossed the t, inking his name onto a letter of intent for Ohio State University, committing himself to the Buckeyes for the next four-plus years.

Laurinaitis, who's also captain of the Wayzata boys hockey team, led the Trojans to the cusp of a state title in the fall, falling just short in a Prep Bowl loss to Minnetonka.

In the process though, the 6-foot-3, 230 lbs. rock who doubled as a tight end when Wayzata had the ball, put himself in position to attend one of college football's most storied programs.

He'll be the first player from the state to play for Ohio State since Sid Gillman did in the 1930's, and the first to ever receive a scholarship from the longtime Big Ten power.

"He's just such an incredible kid," said Wayzata athletic director Jamie Sherwood. "His maturity goes so far beyond the football field, and that's something you don't see too often in a young man his age. The successes he has in life will be ten times what he does in football because he's just got that attitude about him."

Laurinaitis wasn't the only Wayzata athlete to sign the dotted line that day, as four other Trojans made commitments that day.

Two of Laurinaitus' teammates from that runner-up football team will be moving on next year as well.

Wide receiver Ty Ruffin and defensive tackle Tyler Grapp are both headed to Concordia in St. Paul.

There's also a pair of girls from Wayzata's third place soccer team that will be teammates again next season.

Marti Klinsing and Kaitlyn Wagner are both headed for the U of M to play soccer for the Gophers.

"It's really a reflection of the parent and coaches of these kids," said Sherwood. "We're just the recipients of what they've done. We had five section champions in eight sports, getting their starts well before high school. This group of seniors is real special to us."

[Bestbuck36]

Wow I would have thought we'd had more players from Minny. Sid Gillman is good company though.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

scout.com$

4/28/05

James Laurinaitis

Excerpt From April Bucknuts Mag: "Animal Instinct"
By Bucknuts.com Staff
Date: Apr 27, 2005

In this week's excerpt from the latest issue of Bucknuts the Magazine, we have a portion of a story by Gary Housteau called "Animal Instinct", which is about soon-to-be OSU freshman linebacker James Laurinaitis. Learn a bit more about this talented young linebacker and how he became interested in OSU as we give you a glimpse of Gary's story that ran in the April issue of Bucknuts.

As part of the redesign of the Bucknuts.com web site, we have added an area where we can publish excerpts from Bucknuts The Magazine. Each week, we will put in a new excerpt from the latest edition of Bucknuts The Magazine.

BTM has evolved from humble beginnings as a 32-page magazine into its current format as an 80-page magazine. It is published 10 times a year (monthly from September through April, then once in the Spring and Summer).

The magazine retails for $4.95 on newsstands. We also sell annual subscriptions to the magazine on the Internet for $39.95.

But the best deal going is our annual subscription bundle. For $99.95, you get a full year of BTM as well as access to all of the premium content and message boards on Bucknuts.com. Subscriptions to the web site, itself, are priced at $9.95 per month. So, for roughly $100 you receive the value of almost $160 between the web site and magazine.

In each issue of Bucknuts The Magazine, we have in-depth features on Ohio State football players, coaches and prospects. We also have analysis pieces on the Buckeyes as well as their opponents, the Big Ten and college football world in general. Plus, we have features on OSU athletes in a variety of sports, including men's and women's basketball, hockey, wrestling, baseball and other sports.

The Spring edition (Ted Ginn Jr. on the cover) is on newsstands now. If you subscribe now, your subscription will start with the Summer edition, which will stand as the Football Preview edition.

Here is this week's excerpt from a story published in the Spring edition of BTM. This week, we take a look at a portion of a story on incoming linebacker James Laurinaitis, written by Gary Housteau:


Headline: Animal Instinct

By Gary Housteau

Credit Andy Katzenmoyer with an assist for initially attracting the top football player in the state of Minnesota last season to The Ohio State University. When James Laurinaitis of Plymouth Wayzata High School got a Katzenmoyer jersey years ago from his father, he was hooked on the All-American linebacker of the Buckeyes, and now he actually has a chance to follow in the former Butkus Award winner's footsteps.

"My first college football jersey was Andy Katzenmoyer's," Laurinaitis said. "My dad was performing in a wrestling match in Ohio somewhere, I think it was in Columbus, and he got me a Katzenmoyer jersey. I remember it even had the name on the back - number 45, Katzenmoyer across the back of it - and I just fell in love with it. I just loved that jersey and I loved the way he played. And that's when I really started loving linebackers. I was really young then."

Several years later at the very end of the 2002 college football season, Laurinaitis' interest in Ohio State was renewed. This time, he took the Buckeyes in a "family-friendly bet" with his uncle, who was a big Miami Hurricane fan, in the national championship contest.

"It was more of a gentlemen's bet for some bragging rights and I took the Buckeyes. It was awesome," Laurinaitis said. "So I've actually been a Buckeye fan for a while now, since the Katzenmoyer days."

But when Laurinaitis verbally committed to the University of Minnesota last April, it was looking as if he would never have the chance to become another Katzenmoyer-like linebacker to roam the field at Ohio Stadium for Ohio State.

"I was at the spring game for Minnesota last year - my best friend Dom Barber plays for them; he was a freshman this year, and his older brother is Marion Barber - and they offered me or what not," said Laurinaitis, who claims he was actually unaware that he gave a verbal commitment to Minnesota but went with it anyway when it was reported in the paper that he did. "I just kind of let it slip by because at that point I was so excited that I'd gotten the offer that it was more of a blessing than anything."

So the whole summer before his senior season, everyone thought that Laurinaitis was all set with the Gophers, and mo