It’ll be a year before Harvey WR Chris Fields has to don one school’s cap and leave a dozen or more empty-handed (or is that “empty-headed”?). But when you can play like this, it’s no wonder Signing Day 2009 can’t get here fast enough for some.
Kent State, Akron, Ohio University, and Southern (La.) University have all offered Fields a scholarship, according to the News-Herald; but Fields’ top two choices right now are Ohio State and Illinois, and, not coincidentally, both are making it very clear those feelings are mutual.
On Tuesday, Illinois coach Ron Zook was the first to reach the hallways of Harvey High. Zook has four commitments from the area this year — Akron Garfield DE Whitney Mercilus, Glenville WR/DB Cordale Scott, St. Ed’s LB Justin Staples, and Mayfield RB/LB Ashante Williams — and at least ten more ‘ballers, including Glenville DT Dawan Whitner, Bedford RB Aaron Roberson, and St. Ed’s CB Branden Williams, are considering bolting the NEO for Champaign. And yes, Zook now has a scholarship for Fields, if the dude wants one.
A day later, it was Jim Tressel’s turn — and he didn’t disappoint, turning in a primo schmooze job with school administrators. Tressel, up to watch Madison TE Nic DeLillo play basketball, went to Baldwin-Wallace with the Red Raiders’ former coach, Mike Scullin, and remembered Scullin’s apparently stellar kick-return skills. That always plays nice with the secretaries. “He is the nicest man,” one of them, Scullin’s wife, Marilyn, told the PD.
But stay tuned — the Chris Fields Derby is just getting started. Recruiters from Notre Dame, Iowa and Penn State have also visited Harvey recently. And besides, there’s only so much red carpet to go around until the fax machine goes cold next Wednesday.
