RSS | 
Twitter
| 
Be a fan!
Sweat chooses Ohio State
jtuscano@observer-reporter.com
If Andrew Sweat handles college football the way he handled the most important recruiting day of his football career, then a bright future awaits.
Situated at a table with the rest of his family on the turf at Hiller Stadium Thursday afternoon, Sweat announced to a crowd of about 150 well-wishers, media and current teammates that he would be attending Ohio State University after his senior year is completed next June.
Rate This Story:
1 the lowest - 5 the highest
Current rating:
The 6-2, 230-pound linebacker, who averaged 16 tackles per game for the Hillers last season, is the No. 11 scholastic recruit in the country according to the ESPN 150.
What swayed Sweat was his attendance at last season's Ohio State-Michigan game that pitted the top two teams in the country at the time.
"The atmosphere was great," said Sweat. "It was so much fun. That's what you want to play for, and in front of 100,000 fans."
Head coaches from four of the five finalists - Joe Paterno was recovering from a broken leg and has limited his travel - paid visits to Sweat.
"A 17-year-old talking to people like Tom Bradley, Joe Paterno, Dave Wannstedt, Jim Tressel ... matures you real quick," said Gary Sweat, Andrew's father, who was a three-year starter at Syracuse in the early 1970's and a free-agent signee by the Kansas City Chiefs.
"What made it easy was the distance. He's a homebody and I think he realized how far away from home he was going to be at some of these schools."
Andrew Sweat also was impressed by a number of other factors. He knew five other Ohio State recruits and received good reports from former teammate and friend Andrew Miller, who accepted a scholarship offer from the Buckeyes last year.
"I wanted to pick the place with the best people," Sweat said. "The recruiting was intense. It was tough to say no to people."
Ohio State is getting a great athlete - Sweat was on the Observer-Reporter's All-District Team and was a first-team all-state selection - and an equally strong student. He carries a 3.9 grade-point average and is ranked in the top 20 of his class. He will pursue a business finance degree and hopes to enter Ohio State's law school after graduation.
Sweat is the latest, and most-hyped, recruit from Trinity. He's also the fourth Hillers player in as many years to accept a Division I scholarship. Miller's came last year and senior Cody Endres chose Connecticut last November. Mark Faldowski accepted an appointment to attend Army in 2004.
Sweat is a three-sport athlete at Trinity, starting at forward on the basketball team and third base on the baseball team. The Hillers are in the PIAA Class AAA playoffs.
"(Picking a school now) will make him more relaxed," said Trinity coach Ed Dalton of Sweat. "You don't have to worry about who's calling and who's text-messaging. What's the sense of spending any more time than you have to with that."
Sweat will end his career at Trinity as a four-year starter. He was a safety as a freshman and spent the last two seasons at linebacker. Ohio State recruiters told him he could be used at any of the linebacking spots in its 4-3 scheme and discussed a red-shirt season.
Those issues seemed far away on this day.
"I'm going to celebrate with my family and friends," he said. "I might go swimming. It's like a weight has been lifted. I'm glad it's over."
