Our Honor Defend

Looking forward now to the fifth installment of what is now a 20 part series known here as Better Know A Buckeye, I decide to leap forward a bit into one of the last commitments in the 2008 class: my latest mancrush Keith Wells. In the sections that follow, I take a look at the recruitment (and, in Wells’ case: re-recruitment) of Keith Wells, where I think he’ll fit in, and why anyone who makes an engineering major central to his recruitment is sure to garner my admiration.

Height: 6′5
Weight: 225lbs
Forty: 4.8
GPA: 3.0
Early Enrollee: Nope.

What follows is fairly lengthy, so click the following link to continue.

His Recruitment: Keith Wells came on the register of Buckeye recruitniks fairly late, only receiving an offer on May 02, 2007 in person from Luke Fickell at a high school spring practice. By that time, Wells had already acquired offers from Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Miami (FL), Georgia Tech, Louisville, among a few others and had already expressed interest in the state schools (Georgia Tech, who had offered to that point, and Georgia, who I’m not sure ever did offer). Notre Dame, LSU and Georgia were also involved in Keith’s recruitment as well. Early projections were not good regarding the probability of drawing a kid from the South to the North when all the regional powers had offered¹. Tennessee and Florida State would also offer Keith just days after the Buckeye offer, further casting doubt on Keith’s odds of becoming a Buckeye. Yet, it was Keith himself who kept the conversation going by insisting that he had a serious interest in Ohio State even when it was the only school north of the Mason-Dixon line to garner his undivided attention. One week after the Tennesssee and FSU offers, Keith whittled his list down to six: Florida, Florida State, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Ohio State and Tennessee. By June 1st, Ohio State was still in his Top 6 along with Florida, Florida State, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and now Auburn in lieu of Tennessee. Soon after, Keith started to take unofficial visits in the form of summer camps to North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Therein, the Gators really stood out for Keith. Later in the month, the Top 6 became 6 “finalists” for Keith, and he even offered commentary on what he saw in all 6 schools. Of interest for Buckeye fans:

On Ohio State -- “I haven’t been up there to see it, but a lot of people are telling me their facility and campus is amazing. I want to see it for myself. Football and academics are two important things at Ohio State, and so is basketball.”

The curiosity, of course, was Wells hinting at trying his hand at both sports, even offering similar sentiments on what he liked in Florida. Of course, it didn’t occur to anyone that he really could play both sports at two top hoops programs like Florida and Ohio State. Indeed, it may have just been and expression of fandom, and that he wanted to be at place where both were privileged and where basketball season would be a nice diversion for him. If that were the case, Ohio State could very well be crossed off since our basketball fans, generally speaking, have the same rowdiness to them as Michigan football fans, both of which best exemplify the “don’t wake the baby” philsophy to cheering on the home team.

I said it, and I’m not taking it back. Anywho, back to the topic at hand.

Keith expressed interest in taking a July visit to Ohio State’s campus for, as noted in aforementioned blockquote, to see the facility and campus for himself. Word even broke that Keith’s mother was going to contact the mother of fellow Georgia defensive product Cam Heyward to inquire what about Ohio State made them so comfortable. Yet, it’s not clear what ever became of that. By mid-July, it would be all for not. Keith had expressed serious interest in committing before the start of the football season to get it out of the way. Moreover, by this time, Florida State had really amped up their recruitment of Keith, causing Keith to favour the Seminoles above the rest of his six, including the Gators. His reasoning:

“I love Florida State’s legacy of having great defensive players,” Wells said. “They send guys to the NFL and I love the location. Also, coach Bobby Bowden is like the winningest coach in college football and you can’t go wrong with them.”

Keith started to get the ball rolling on committing, whittling his list down to 3 in late July: Auburn, Florida, and Florida State. The Buckeyes, for the most part, were out of the running.

His Commitment: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution announced on Saturday, August 04, that Keith was almost done evaluating and would announce between Auburn, Florida and Florida State the Thursday of the upcoming week. The decision would actually come one day later that Friday. At 1pm, Keith Wells committed to the Seminoles. And that’s where things stood before the start of the 2007 HS football season.

His Recruitment, Part Deux: Of course, that’s not how things would end. The exact cause of Keith decommitting from Florida State and eventually committing to the Buckeyes can only be inferred from the sequence that followed, as it is still not 100 percent clear to me what the root cause was. I’ve identified 3 possible causes: not being 100 percent certain that Florida State was the absolute best choice anymore, admiration of Jim Tressel, and the recent chaos in Florida State’s program.

We do know that even though Keith committed to Florida State, and did not speak to Ohio State’s staff for a period after that, he did want to take that visit to the campus that eluded him during the summer months. This might suggest that even though Florida State was a choice he felt comfortable with into Autumn, he might not have been 100 percent sure that Florida State was the best possible choice. Perhaps he felt Ohio State might have been a better choice and he could have come to that realization if he had gone to Ohio State’s campus and seen things for himself? He would ultimately suggest something like this was the case. However, I ultimately don’t know, but we do know Keith was mulling over the possibilities of an official visit even as early as September.

The ball really started rolling in late November, as Ohio State made their first contact with Keith Wells since he committed months earlier. Soon after, Ohio State’s staff sent down two coaches to meet with Keith. Keith would then set up a December 8 official vist to Ohio State’s campus, along with future commit Shawntell Rowell and other targets that headed elsewhere like Cordale Scott (Illinois), Shayne Hale (Pitt), and Josh Jenkins (WVU). Keith would later reveal in a must-see Scout interview that Jim Tressel really wowed Keith and his mother on this visit, where football never once came up in conversation. Instead, Tressel and Keith talked about everything from school to Georgia weather over their lunch together. Tressel would also apparently phone Keith and his mom at least once a week just to ask about how things are going personally. In the said Scout interview, you can really sense the admiration Keith had for Tressel in his voice as well as his words, where Keith sounded like he was actually tearing up a bit. This suggests that his appreciation of Tressel — and not latent curiosity about Ohio State’s campus and facilities, per se — may be the root cause of his decommitment and eventual commitment to Ohio State.

The more commonly held idea that led to Wells’ interest elsewhere was the chaos a-brewin’ in Florida State’s program. For beginners, Bobby Bowden signed a one year extension on November 30 for the 2008-09 season, fueling speculation on what exactly the future held for Florida State’s program. Later, the cheating scandal that rocked the university and depleted its roster for the upcoming Music City Bowl against Kentucky became fodder for college football media outlets everywhere. With how serious Keith is about his academics, I can’t imagine the cheating scandal resonated well with him. Also, the cheating problem has its origins in September 2007, which coincides in large part with when Wells started to look elsewhere. However, this issue was made explicit by Wells himself in said Scout interview. Even though Wells, into January, was still committed to Florida State, he did affirm exactly this idea: that he wanted to know who his coach would be, he wanted stability in a program, and didn’t want all-around anarchy surrounding him in college.

Whatever the cause, by December, Keith had several official visits lined up: his December 8 visit to Ohio State, his visit to Auburn the weekend after his Ohio State official, a January 11 visit back to Florida State, as well as January 18 and January 25 visits to Auburn and Clemson, respectively. He enjoyed his Ohio State visit, citing the facilities, coaches and campus as all things that stood out. He would also give similar high regards to Auburn after his visit there a week later. Notre Dame soon entered the fray, suggesting that even though he was without a Notre Dame offer before a visit, an official visit could get him one. Miami and Alabama also reappeared on Keith’s radar.

By January 09, Keith had started to express serious displeasure with how things were going at Florida State. In his words:

“Right now, I’d say I will visit Tennessee, Miami and FSU,” Wells said. “And if anyone falls through, I’ve got schools like Clemson, Notre Dame and Alabama. Florida State’s prospects of regaining ground with Wells might be as simple as picking up a telephone. “They’re not communicating with me a lot,” Wells said. “I guess they’re just wanting to see what I’m going to do. Me and the guy who was recruiting me at FSU just haven’t communicated like we used to. “I don’t like that. It shows that they’re not concerned, as far as recruiting me and getting me to come there.”

Of course, many Florida State fans handled the issue as well as most college football fans anywhere (including our own fan base) handle adverse recruiting news²: poorly. FSU’s forums lit up with how immature Keith was and how he was a prima donna who demanded attention 24/7. All of this was a clever diversion given Florida State’s current program predicaments, a more chestbumping way of saying “Our program is floundering, has no sense of direction, and is rife with all sorts of shenanigans. Look away, please.”

Anywho, 5 days later on January 14, Keith made it official: he had decommitted from Florida State and announced that a new decision would take place between Auburn, Florida, Miami, The Ohio State University, and Tennessee. Florida State would later reappear in his list as an option still. He would take an official visit to Tennessee on the weekend of January 19-20 and say later it was his best visit. This was followed with an in-school and in-home visit from Jim Tressel on January 22. As January marched on, the two schools battling for Wells’ service were Ohio State and Tennesse. The former had appeal for the coaching staff, in large part, and the latter had appeal for the immediate playing time Keith would see. In Keith’s words:

“It was a really, really good experience for me,” Wells said. “Over the past couple of months, Coach Tressel [and I] have grown together.

“Out of all the coaches I’ve talked to, he’s probably one of the most genuine guys I’ve met. He’s definitely a person to meet”

“Tennessee has a legacy of winning, and I definitely like that,” Wells said. “They’re a solid program and I have an opportunity to play there.

“They have about three real defensive ends, and two of them are seniors. I could go in and make an impact as a freshman.

“It’s not too far away from home, but distance isn’t an issue. They have a great tradition of defensive ends coming out of that school. The visit to Tennessee was probably my best visit.”

And then along came Notre Dame. On January 24, Keith made it a point to finally take that Notre Dame visit he wanted to do in the summer for camp. He was told that if he took the visit, he would get the offer he was interested in. Naturally, as a recruit, given Notre Dame’s recent success under coaching legend Charlie Weis past glories, when Notre Dame speaks, as a recruit, you listen. The plea made by Notre Dame’s staff was to overlook football and focus on Notre Dame’s educational rigor vis-a-vis Ohio State and Tennessee. In all of Charlie Weis’ genius, this might be the most genius-y: look beyond how we stink out loud in football and pay more attention to how neat of a university Notre Dame is (and it is, I won’t dispute that). On the heels of such unaccountable genius, Keith made his visit on the weekend of February 2-3, after in-home visits from Heacock and Fickell as well as another visit from Fulmer. The recap of the Fulmer visit is worth reading:

Gainesville turned into a hot spot for college coaches earlier this week when Phillip Fulmer of Tennessee and Notre Dame’s Charlie Weis flew into town to court the Red Elephants’ Keith Wells.

“I’ve been coaching 11 years, and Wednesday was about the craziest day I’ve ever seen,” Gainesville assistant coach Todd Wofford said. “I’d never seen a [college] team do what Tennessee did. They sent just about their whole staff to our school and they were there from 8 a.m. until 5:15 p.m. It was all day.

“It was like they were Keith’s shadow. Two coaches would walk him from class to class. Fulmer showed up about 2 p.m. They stayed for track practice then went to his house.

Keith would make his decision two days later.

His Commitment, Part Deux: The decision came down to three schools: Ohio State for the coaching staff, Tennessee for the playing time, and Notre Dame for the tradition. Keith announced he would attend The Ohio State University in a small presser on Feburary 4th, becoming the 18th member of the 2008 class . The decision, though, was of surprise to very few people. Most Buckeyes felt good about their chances simply because any kid that carries himself like Keith does in interviews, privileges his mother as he does, and has that kind of bond with Jim Tressel is bound to be a Buckeye. Some Notre Dame insights even suggested that when palling around South Bend, his upcoming commitment to The Ohio State University was the worst kept secret among the group. The commitment hit a little harder among Tennessee fans, who could not buy a break in the 2007-08 recruiting campaign and really could’ve used someone like Keith in the class. Of course, Buckeye recruitniks weren’t entirely bummed for Tennessee, as I’m certain the illwill over the Ben Martin fiasco will carry for several years to come. Keith would later talk about the decision, suggesting that it was indeed Tressel and engineering that made the difference:

Choosing Ohio State was partly based on its engineering program, Wells said. The Buckeyes’ recent success and an opportunity for early playing time were also factors.

“I just felt more comfortable with Ohio State than I did with any other school,” Well (sic) said.

Keith would later sign his letter of intent on NLOID, formally becoming a Buckeye.

Engineering: For a guy with so much promise with so little football experience³, it’s remarkable to me that Keith made academics such a vital part of his recruitment. Indeed, it’s not just any ol’ academics either that would bring your typical recruit to Ohio State (like business, or journalism, or some other make-believe academic program), oh no. Keith’s point was simple: He wants to be an engineer and he wants to go to a school that has an engineering program capable of making him desirable on the job market (whether or not he goes pro).

Reading that tidbit immediately made me covet him. So should it make anyone else grateful to have him. Anywhere Keith went, he inquired about the engineering program, making it arguably an even bigger part of his college football recruitment than the football part. It’s what Notre Dame capitalized on to initially get his attention in January. It’s also comes up first in what sold him on becoming a Buckeye, for in his words:

“They’ve (Ohio State) got a top 20 engineering program, their football team is thriving, definitely excelling the last few years, and I definitely feel I have an opportunity to get in there and play early.”

I really hope he sticks to that. What better story for Ohio State’s football team than a guy who rips people’s heads off on Saturdays and spends his Sundays in the lab doing work (think Antonio Smith, from two years back, a mechanical engineer).

Where He Excels: Keith has only been playing football for about a year and a half now, so he really is a raw product. Highlights show a lot of promise, however, and show why programs like Alabama, Ohio State, Florida and Notre Dame were hot on his trail. For having a frame that looked like he truly was fresh off the basketball court (and he was, for all intents and purposes), Keith played a lot of Leo at times, looking truly like some alchemy of defensive end and outside linebacker. However, whatever his formal position was at the high school level, he really was explosive off the edge and off the snap. “Fast” would be appropriate too, as he could chase down most quarterbacks in the backfield. Doesn’t have the disengaging problems that Nathan Williams has (in my view). Reads plays pretty well for basically always being on the fly. I don’t know how well the competition was in Georgia, but he appeared to be much stronger than anyone else blocking him, even for his relatively light frame. This allowed him to push off lineman and other would-be blockers for better disengaging skills. Such strength also allowed for amazing tackles too in his Rivals.com highlights. In one play, he even “punched”, if you will, a fleeing QB to the turf. It was either a punch or some other one handed shove. I was also pleased to see someone with such active feet and exceptional lateral movement, always staying parallel with the line of scrimmage unless chasing after a QB to punch into the ground. Very, very high ceiling for Keith.

Must Work On: He’s a football neophyte and he admits he just needs more experience. One such particular thing that the casual observer can pick on is how he sometimes plays too high. Playing high allows a guy with Keith’s height (6′6) to see above the defenders, but it also makes him easier to block at the next level.

Redshirt? Keith is indicating that he probably won’t. I think he should, if only for the extra conditioning he would get. By most accounts, Keith is not the 211lbs that most recruiting services say he is, and might indeed be closer to 240, which is passable for down lineman. Ideally, he would be up to 260 or 270 if he wants to have the kind of immediate impact that Cam Heyward had. Granted, I’m no recruiting expert and don’t pretend to be, but a few of those lineman prospects coming in should redshirt to lessen the potential logjam (Rowell, Williams, Wells, Mobley, Goebel). I think Rowell and Wells can really benefit from the extra conditioning they would get in a college weight room. Choice is ultimately his, though. Remember: Vernon came in at 6′3 240, didn’t redshirt, and didn’t ultimately miss a beat for his career.

Miscellany: Wants to be an engineer, and I can’t stress enough how awesome I think that is… Favourite HS class was chemistry… His HS team’s official nickname was “Red Elephants”. The origin of the nickname is similar to the origin of the elephant as an unofficial moniker for the Alabama Crimson Tide, but its origins predate Alabama’s use of the elephant… Played only about a year and a half of HS football… Delayed an in-home visit with Phil Fulmer so his mom could make the meeting. Corollary to this: Keith Wells is good to his mother… Judging from AJC’s coverage of his recruitment, his recruiting process might be one of the most intriguing they have covered.

The Quotable Keith Wells Fluff Piece: Almost all of it can be best captured in his Scout interview before one of their HS prep star combine/workout thingies. Herein, you’ll hear a kid with a more level head on his shoulders than I think I had at that time. Enjoy.

That said, I think this quote is one of the best among any of the incoming Buckeyes, since it’s subtly one of the best burns I’ve come across.

Asked, for example, what stood out about Ohio State, Wells said, “It’s the way it’s an all-around school. Tennessee is primarily a football school and Notre Dame is primarily an academic school. But Ohio State is known for both.

The reader then is left wondering who is that a bigger diss on: Tennessee for being a glorified football factory or Notre Dame for no longer being relevant. Either way, it’s money.

A Straight Six interview can be read here, though there’s not much too it.

Highlights: Here’s his Rivals.com footage. Enjoy. The “punching” tackle I referenced earlier is around the 40 second mark.

So, again absent a real good way to end these, to the lone Georgian in this class, and a guy who might be drowned out in the hype of Adams, Brewster, Shugarts, Pryor and the skill players Stoneburner, Thomas and Posey: Keith Wells, consider yourself Better Known… or something. If he actually follows through with that engineering program and fulfills his potential as a player, he’d be one of the all-time heroes in Buckeye lore.

1. Contrast with drawing Chimdi Chekwa coming to Ohio State when his offer list was FIU and FAU [↩]
2. see also most Penn State reactions, BSD excluded, to Terrelle Pryor’s recent commitment [↩]
3. Basically, Keith has the same exact level of high school experience as Vernon Gholston. Whereas Keith had invested so much time in basketball up until his junior year of HS, Vernon was watching professional wrestling to that point as well [↩]