08-27-2009, 07:53 AM
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Head Coach
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Join Date: Nov 2003
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Quote:
Put the game on his toe
Chillicothe kicker Drew Basil wants to be the hero on the field
BY LANCE CRANMER
Special to the Gazette
August 26, 2009
Oh man, I think they'll be surprised," laughed Basil, the Chillicothe senior kicker-slash-punter. "Most people get the paper and expect to see the quarterback or a linebacker or some other position."
Basil, however, is not just a kicker. He's a phenomenon. He's a Chillicothe legend-in-the-making. Like those who arrived immediately before him -- Caleb Knights and Chris Givens on the football field; Anthony Hitchens in basketball or Seth Dawes in baseball.
Last year, Basil accounted for 59 points, on 8-of-14 field goals and 35-of-37 PATs. He's scored 139 points in his career and averages 40.2 yards per punt. He also booted a school-record 50-yard field goal last year.
But a kicker -- on the cover?
"It means a lot," Basil said, of the honor. "It's just crazy to think how much a kicker means to the team. How much everybody respects me, even likes me to put me as a captain and think of me as a leader of the team."
But it does make sense.
With a full year left ahead of him, Basil already is the program's all-time leading scorer. Last year, he was an all-league, all-district and second-team All-Ohioan. And there is the small matter of Basil being a future kicker at Ohio State University.
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BECOMING A BUCKEYE
Drew Basil was sitting in a parking lot in West Lafayette, Ind., preparing himself to go in and put on a kicking display for the coaching staff at Purdue University.
"I was in their parking lot getting ready to go into their camp," he said. "I was supposed to call (Ohio State's) coach that morning, Coach Gillum, who is the recruiting coordinator I believe. That's when they offered me. In the parking lot.
"He told me to call Coach Tressel then, so I called Coach Tressel from Purdue's parking lot. When he answered the phone, he knew it was me. That's just a cool feeling."
When Basil made the call to Columbus, Tressel made his intentions very clear.
"He said, 'Now, you know, we want you to be a Buckeye. And we're going to do everything we can to make that happen,'" Basil said.
And then? What about the Boilermakers?
"I just went in and had a great day. I was smiling the whole time," Basil said. "I was kicking the ball great. Just having fun."
While Ohio State's offer hit the table that morning in late June, it wasn't official just yet.
"It was down to the five schools that had offered me, which were Air Force, Purdue, Kentucky, Cincinnati and Ohio State," Basil said.
But OSU was the front-runner.
"Mostly. After I got the offer, I wanted to make sure I went and saw the campus and everything before I made a decision," he said. "The other four schools that had offered me, I'd gotten a tour of the campus and had seen the facilities and everything.
"I had to make sure it was the right choice. If they didn't have what I wanted academically, it probably wouldn't have been as good of an option as it was."
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Put the game on his toe | chillicothegazette.com | Chillicothe Gazette
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