Dick Tressel Excited About OSU Backfield Additions

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Dick Tressel Excited About OSU Backfield Additions
By John Porentas

He's not Maurice Clarett. He's not Eddie George. He's not Archie Griffin. He's not Robert Smith. He's Chris Wells, and he is touted to be the next great running back at Ohio State.

Wells is his own man, his own player, with his own style and attributes, but if you ask the man who will coach him at his position at Ohio State, OSU running backs coach Dick Tressel, Wells definitely has the characteristics of another running back you may have heard of once or twice.

"Jim Brown. He absolutely reminds me of Jim Brown," said Tressel without hesitating or batting an eye.

Dick Tressel has seen a few football players in his 57 years, and he isn't the type to succumb to to hype or traffic in it. Like his little brother Jimmy (You know, the head coach) he is an even-keel, keep-it-in-perspective kind of guy. All that being said, Tressel couldn't help but go on just a bit about the newest addition to his stable of runners, and was clear that he knew exactly what he was saying when he compared him to Brown.

"That's big time. You probably shouldn't quote me on that because that's putting something on him, but that's who he reminds me of really. He has a little gate in his step almost like Jim Brown," said Tressel.

Jim Brown was a punishing runner, and so reportedly is Wells. Jim Brown was sometimes nearly impossible to bring down, and so reportedly is Wells, but Tressel said that Wells is more than just strength and power.

"Chris is fast. He can absolutely get to the house. He has explosive speed as well as the ability to when he get out there to outrun some people. If he has to outrun some people to get 30 yards he will."

Tressel is excited about having a complimentary back to returning starter Antonio Pittman, and sees the duo as a boon to the entire offense.

"I have no problem playing two backs," said Tressel. "It will bring competition among the group that we have that is going to help us identify and use their various talents. I think the other thing it's going to do is bring the talents to our offensive line out too. The whole things works together. It started last year. As the line got better the back was a little better, and when the back got a little bit better, the line got a little bit better."

"He really is exciting because there's such a potential there that's already out and being developed. We get to move him along to the next level of his competitive life. He truly is gifted physically.'

Wells is the marquee name at running back, and perhaps in the entire recruiting class, but Tressel is excited about his other addition to the OSU backfield, Arum Olsen. According to Tressel, in a different kind of way, Olsen is almost as rare a find as Wells as backfield players go these days.

"Joshua Arum Olsen," said Tressel when asked about Olsen, "but he goes by his middle name, Arum."

Olsen is a rare breed, a true fullback.

"The fullback world is a dying breed," said Tressel.

"In high school you don't find the fullback-type guys, the Big Ten fullback type guys playing fullback anymore.

"They're all playing linebacker, defensive end, the positions that have a little more impact in the offenses that are being used, so there aren't that many of them around. You almost have to project somebody.

"He fortunately was in an offense that did that."

According to Tressel, it was the unexpected loss of players to the NFL this fall that made it possible for OSU to pursue Olsen.

"Coming out of the gate with our 18 scholarships we weren't sure if we were going to go for a fullback, but when it started looking like we would have more than one guy leave for the NFL, it was the first of December that we decided to offer a scholarship to a fullback. Arum was a great opportunity for us, and that really worked out well."

Though the Buckeyes got in on the Columbia, South Carolina native late in the recruiting game, they found they had somewhat of an inside track.

"Joshua had a little Big Ten in him, so it gave us a chance," said Tressel describing the recruitment of Olsen.

"He lived his first six years in Wisconsin and his dad played for the (Minnesota) Gophers, so there was a Big Ten connection.

"He knew about the Big Ten, he had some feel for the Big Ten, so we had a chance all of a sudden."

Olsen, it turned out, was an admirer of old-time, smash-mouth, midwest football.

"He loved it, knew a little bit about the great I-formation teams of the Big Ten in the past, his dad knew of that and there was a feeling for that, so he really can identify with that," said Tressel.

The Buckeyes have not really had a true fullback on their roster since the departure of Jamar Martin, but Tressel says that Olsen has everything it takes to be a bone-crushing blocker, and that Olsen is the kind of player who can be very satisfied with clearing the way for the likes of Pittman, Wells, and the rest of the OSU ball carriers.

"Everybody has to be excited about a role and a way to contribute and I think we got a bunch of different guys who can do that," said Tressel.

Olsen fits that description to a tee, or maybe that's an I.

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