Bringing his sweater vest
Ohio State's Tressel finalizes recruitment of Eagles' Crowell
Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011
By DALLAS COGLE
Staff writer
Staff photo by DALLAS COGLE
The large turnout of North Point winter sports athletes listens to Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Jim Tressel as he motivates and inspires the students to do their best in the gym before they headed out to their respective practices. The athletes took in the 10-minute speech from Tressel while he was at the school Monday.
Staff photo by DALLAS COGLE
Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Jim Tressel arrived to North Point on Monday to see one of his prized recruits in linebacker Conner Crowell. After meeting with Crowell, Tressel addressed North Point's winter sports athletes in the gym before their team practices.
His signature sweater vest with the Ohio State Buckeyes logo concealed under a dress blazer, overtop of a scarlet-and-gray-striped tie, was hardly needed to identify one of the most recognizable head coaches in college football when he set foot in North Point on Monday afternoon, sending off a buzz throughout the high school.
To current and former Ohioans, who are all ? it seems ? Buckeyes fans, his persona and distinction is more like that of a U.S. president. To everyone else, he's a household name ? at least to sports fans.
Now, Jim Tressel finds himself heavily saturated in the recruiting scene. And that's what brought him to Charles County to kick off this week, just nine days before high school football's holiest happening ? National Signing Day.
North Point linebacker Conner Crowell is among Ohio State's blue-chip recruits for its class of 2011, and Tressel's presence at North Point was the final step in consummating the Buckeyes to the reigning Southern Maryland Athletic Conference and Charles County Most Valuable Player.
All that's left is for Crowell to sign on the dotted line next Wednesday.
"The interesting thing in my particular world is I usually don't get called into a school unless there's a great player. That's just the way it is because I'm only allowed to go out once," Tressel said, just three weeks removed from leading the Buckeyes to a second straight BCS win in the Sugar Bowl. "By NCAA rules, I'm allowed to go to each prospect's high school and/or home one time ? and that has to be on the same day. So I can meet [Crowell], in essence, one time off of our campus. Now a prospective student-athlete can come to our campus for what they call unofficial visits an unlimited number of times. So Conner has been in for a visit, and he's gotten to know our guys and our coaches.
"The only thing we're allowed to say about a prospective student-athlete is that we do have interest in them. And we do have interest in Conner."
Currently, Crowell still is hobbling around on crutches after breaking his ankle in what quickly became his final high school game in a November playoff loss in the Class 4A East Region semifinals ? one week after all of the pomp and circumstance in deciding to take his talents to Ohio State. He's slated for a full recovery in March.
"I've met him a couple times," Crowell said about his encounters with Tressel. "It's really exciting. It's pretty cool to be walking around with him in school, and all these people just love him. He's coming down here to get to know me better and see where I come from, just to learn a little bit more about me. So when I go up to Ohio State, he'll be like, ?Hey, how's Waldorf doing? How's your school doing?'"
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