KARL PEARSON
Star Beacon
February 20, 2008 01:58 am
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The moment of truth came Tuesday morning for Chris Fields.
With Ohio State head football coach Jim Tressel on the other end of the phone, Harvey High School’s junior wide receiver faced a decision about his collegiate football future: Make a verbal commitment to the Buckeyes’ recruiting class of 2009 or take some more time and weigh some of the other hefty offers he’s been receiving lately.
With Red Raiders coach Devlin Culliver sitting in the room, Fields excused himself and put Tressel on hold briefly.
“He put the phone on pause, turned to me and said, ‘Coach, what do you think?’” Culliver said. “I said, ‘You want to go to Ohio State, right?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘Then tell (Tressel) you accept,’ and that’s what he did.”
With that acceptance, the 6-foot-1, 177-pound Fields became what is believed to be the first Harvey football player to agree to play at Ohio State since John Mummey made the decision to sign on with the Buckeyes of Woody Hayes in 1958. Mummey, who resides in Fairport, went on to letter for the Buckeyes from 1960-62 and later served as an assistant coach at OSU.
The son of Brian and Kathy Fields said Kansas, where former Red Raiders teammate Jeff Spikes ended up last year, Penn State and Illinois, plus a number of Mid-American Conference schools, have entered the picture recently, but he always has had the idea of attending Ohio State.
“I made my unofficial visit about two weeks ago,” Fields said. “I had a chance to make all the home games. I went over to the Woody Hayes facility and saw the campus. I loved it.
“I’m real happy with Ohio State. I’d planned to visit Kansas, and it might have been nice to go out there and play with (Spikes), but I’ve always had it in the back of my mind to go to Ohio State. I was thinking about making all my five visits, but I just decided Ohio State was right for me.”
A strong relationship has existed between Fields, Tressel and OSU assistant coaches Darrell Hazell, the assistant head coach and wide receivers coach, and cornerbacks coach Taver Johnson. He has only met offensive coordinator Jim Bollman, a Harbor High School graduate, in passing so far.
“I really like the coaching staff at Ohio State,” Fields said. “I think we have a good relationship.”
Culliver is quite comfortable with Fields’ choice, too. He has known Tressel and Bollman since his high school days, when they were trying to recruit him to Youngstown State when they were running the show there.
“I trust both of them,” Culliver said. “I believe in being loyal to people who have been loyal to me. Between Chris and I, we’d kind of made the decision from the first time we all met.”
Knowing what it takes to produce a Division I athlete is one of Culliver’s strengths. Not only has he produced Spikes and now Fields at Harvey, but he’s also worked with Chris Rowell, a 2005 Warrensville Heights graduate who is playing now at Iowa, and Reggie Smith, a 2002 Shaw product who had a brief stay at Ohio State.
So he was aware Fields had what it took to make it to the big time.
“Chris has all the intangibles,” Culliver said. “He has the height, he has the speed and he has the hands. He looks the part.
“The thing about Chris is when you see him off the field, he passes the eye test because he’s a good-looking student. When he’s on the field, he passes the eye test, too. He looks like a football player.”
Fields has flourished in the no-huddle, spread offense that Culliver has brought with him to Harvey, as have the rest of the Red Raiders in producing two straight undefeated Northeastern Conference championships. He was the leading receiver in the Star Beacon area in 2007 with 51 catches and an area-leading 850 yards for a 16.7-yards-per-catch average. He was second in the area in scoring with 98 points, trailing only Pymatuning Valley’s Josh Pilson. Fields was a first-team Division III All-Ohio selection and All-Northeast Lakes District choice.
“I think a lot of this has been made possible by the system Coach Culliver brought in,” Fields said. “Using the no-huddle and the spread has definitely helped us all out.”
Even though they knew about his talents before, a clinching factor from Ohio State’s perspective had to be the 4.39 40-yard dash time Fields flashed at the high school combine hosted by the Cleveland Browns this past weekend at their practice facilities in Berea.
No doubt, Mummey will be pleased about the news Fields has chosen his collegiate alma mater. Culliver said Mummey has maintained his connections to the Red Raider program.
“(Mummey’s) a great person,” Culliver said. “He stops down a lot during the offseason and the season to give the coaching staff and the kids encouragement.”
Fields says knowing he’ll be hooking up at OSU with recent Buckeye signee Nic DiLillo of Madison was a big help in his decision, too.
“Me and Nic have hung out a lot this last football season,” he said. “We’ve become pretty close. He called and congratulated me today.”
The possibility of being on the receiving end of passes from highly touted Buckeye recruit Terrelle Pryor from Pennsylvania was also an attraction. Pryor still hasn’t made his commitment, delaying his decision past the signing day Feb. 6.
“I talked to him a bit last year, but we haven’t talked in a long time,” Fields said. “I don’t know if he’s getting closer to a decision yet. I wouldn’t mind having him throw me the ball.”
Player and coach both feel Fields’ signing with the Buckeyes is another sign of the growth of football at Harvey, in the Northeastern Conference and in the entire area east of Painesville.
“I think it’s a big statement for our program,” Culliver said. “This is a great day for Harvey. It lets everybody know that we play pretty good football in Painesville, in the conference and in our area.”
“I think this shows that anybody can come out of Painesville or out of our area and be successful,” Fields said. “I’m real proud to be able to represent Painesville.”
Playing at Ohio State will also give his parents, friends and coaches the chance to see him play on a regular basis.
“That was important to me, too,” Fields said. “My parents are thrilled and I think a little overwhelmed.”
Fields is also thrilled that the bevy of calls from recruiters should be reduced significantly now that he’s made his choice.
“I loved all the fame and the offers people were making, but this does take a little weight off my back,” he said. “This is a solid commitment. Now I can concentrate on my offseason and getting ready to make my senior year at Harvey as good as I can make it.”
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