DE Keith Wells (official thread)

[gefootball10]

Originally Posted by 'BusNative

Keith is on the travel squad this weekend along with Nathan Williams...

is there a link where these players are viewable or is it personal intel?

[MililaniBuckeye]

Just read these comments on Keith by Duane Long on his Duane Long Report page:

Written by Duane Long
Wednesday, 03 June 2009 11:27
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Keith Wells needs to get his priorities in order or he will never play here. He could not be more unfocused.<<<<

I've always had high hopes for Keith...hope he gets his priorities straight, quickly.

[buckeyboy]

Wow, that came out of nowhere and is quite surprising.

[amybuckeye]

The impression I got was the Wells is not as focused on football as he should be. Maybe kinda of like Nader was when he first started at OSU.

I'm sure Wells a good citizen off the field.

[Merih]

As a student at Ohio State...I'm not that surprised. I don't want to divulge much information but Keith does seem to be very wrapped up in the benefits that go along with being an OSU football player (parties, etc.) as opposed to football itself.

EDIT: This is NOT to say that he is a bad student or anything else.

[OSUBuckeye4Life]

Originally Posted by MililaniBuckeye

Just read these comments on Keith by Duane Long on his Duane Long Report page:



I've always had high hopes for Keith...hope he gets his priorities straight, quickly.

He expanded on the subject...

What separates the successes from the failures

Good read....

[Buckrock]

Originally Posted by OSUBuckeye4Life

He expanded on the subject...

What separates the successes from the failures

Good read....

How does Duane know? Second hand information obviously since he is not on the staff.

[OSUBuckeye4Life]

Originally Posted by Buckrock

How does Duane know? Second hand information obviously since he is not on the staff.

Obviously I do not personally know how he knows but I doubt Duane would speak on the subject unless he had some pretty solid info.

[itownbuckeye]

Originally Posted by OSUBuckeye4Life

Obviously I do not personally know how he knows but I doubt Duane would speak on the subject unless he had some pretty solid info.

the post in question was not actually Duane's info. he received some info from a long-time source of his about spring ball and posted them verbatim. below is the original entry, the subsequent entry from the same source contains the Wells snippet.

Some spring notes

also, he states in the comments section that the source is a former player

http://www.duanelongreport.com/2009-...ing-notes.html

[buchtelgrad04]

I dislike reading the majority of Duane's blogs. I always get the vibe that he likes to bash players moreso than he does praise them. His information could be true, but the way he comes off is very negative, from my perspective. I know Keith, he's a nice kid, I'd be a little surprised if he was to "never play here."

[osuteke]

This is pretty upsetting. He's from a the town next to me (my brother lives there in Gainesville too) and I was excited to have a Buckeye straight from this area. He was a bright light in this nauseating SEC country. I hope he gets a new mindsight towards Buckeye football I hate to see any player not being successful or leaving the program.

[Tresselbeliever]

It took Nader Abdullah four years to catch on and turn him into a valuable player. I'm sure Keith has enough time to turn things around.

[generaladm]

Originally Posted by MililaniBuckeye

Just read these comments on Keith by Duane Long on his Duane Long Report page:



I've always had high hopes for Keith...hope he gets his priorities straight, quickly.

We were just talking about Long's writing in the LB '09 thread. After reading more of his stuff, I can say I don't much care for the direction he's choosing with his site. Putting aside some questionable (IMO) analysis of the team and the staff, I find the tone in which he speaks of OSU players off-putting. Much of this comes from his "source", who seems to always find a way to turn one player's success into another's failure (the number of times he uses "never see the field", or similar sentiments, concerning underclassmen borders on absurd.), but it is Long's decision to make those statements public. Some of the comments about players come across as a Great Santini like disappointment at their lack of success (by his standards), as if it somehow affects him personally. I'm particularly repulsed by his willingness to broadcast negative innuendos about players without giving specifics, then trying to dispell any controversy by comparing two Buckeye legends to two dropouts. Just doesn't cut it for me.

Perhaps I'm over-reacting, but Keith struck me as one of the more impressive "character" guys in his class. Lots of things are possible with 18-19 year old kids, but I have a hard time believing that he is on the brink of never playing a down, even before his 2nd fall camp. Maybe he is, I don't know. But to me, throwing a statement like that out there without some tangible support is just providing fodder for sensational internet rumors. I would expect our BP members who have "insider" info to show more responsibility with such accusations, because they generally do. I find such bravado by someone with the name recognition of Long to be irresponsible.

I'm not sure where Long expects Wells to be at this point in his career, but I thought it was reasonable to think he was a player who would not make a big impact immediately, as a DL. Coming in, I thought he needed a good deal of conditioning to make it as a DE. There are lots of factors that affect how much progress an athlete can make when trying to change their physique, some that are beyond their control. Long is ready to equate any shortcomings to lack of work ethic, and points to a few extreme examples to make his case. What were the pre-2nd year assessments of Troy Smith, Tyler Whaley, Antonio Smith, Nader Abdallah? Some players take time to develop. Keith has 3 more years to make a contribution to the program. I do not expect him to be a regular player this year, but I would be disappointed if he didn't warrant some quality spot action. If he's still a non-factor during his junior year, I'll accept the questioning of his (fill in the blank). But I can't stomach "never play here" this early without some major back up.

End rant. Mods, feel free to split this off, if need be. I just wanted to show some support for Keith.

BTW, Milli, I'm not saying you're supporting what Long's saying, just quoted your post.

[generaladm]

Sorry to double post, but I just want to say one more thing: Blow em off the [censored]in field, Keith! Tell em Duane sent ya.

[MililaniBuckeye]

Originally Posted by generaladm

We were just talking about Long's writing in the LB '09 thread.

Yep, that's where I first saw Long's comments...