Junior Prospect - Ben Person

Xenia's Ben Person will be one of Ohio's top offensive linemen this year. We have an update on him today.

In evaluating the upcoming Ohio senior class, we've found one thing that fans should be happy to hear -- Ohio is looking good at the offensive line position. Duane Long has said that there could be as many as 8-10 Big Ten-caliber offensive line prospects this year.  One of those line prospects is Xenia's Ben Person, who Duane currently ranks as one of the top two linemen in the state. 

Ben, a Student Sports Junior All-American, should be one of the most talked-about players in the Dayton area this year.  We caught up with him recently to find out more about him and where he stands recruiting-wise. 

Ben on his game:

"We like to run the ball. I like to run block and stuff like that, and I like blocking from the outside. We run a play called Jet where we run to the outside and the whole line will block from left to right and end to end and stuff like that. I enjoy blocking like that, but I also enjoy down-n-dirty or man on man or cross blocks or going to get a linebacker… it doesn’t really matter. I just like to run block."

His current measurements:

"I’m about 6-3 1/2 and I weigh 288. The last 40 time I ran was at the Ohio State camp and that was a 5.4, but I’ve been running a lot and working and everything, and I feel like I’m a lot faster than I was then."

Will guard be his position in college?

"Yeah probably, I’m not very tall for a tackle. I like to play tackle, but I think I’d be better off as a guard."

On schools interested:

"Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Illinois, Nebraska, Virginia, Stanford, I got some letters from Miami (FL), UC; Penn State sent me a camp brochure; I went to Notre Dame for an unofficial visit; I went to Ohio State for an unofficial visit and Pittsburgh for an unofficial visit. I went to Ohio State and Michigan State camp."  (No offers yet)

Any favorites?

"Ohio State would be #1 and Pittsburgh would be #2."

Schools that Ben would like to hear from more:

"Penn State, Louisville, Purdue, and Michigan State… I’d like to stay within four hours of home."

Summer camp schedule:

"I’m going to go to Ohio State senior camp; I’ve already sent in my brochure for that. I’d like to Penn State, Pittsburgh, I’d like to go to Illinois, but it's a contact camp... maybe a few more."

In addition to staying close to home, some important factors in choosing a college are:

"If they have a good education program. I want to be a major in education. How much the football team’s a family is important to me because our football team is like a big family. I’d like to continue with that."

On some of the best players he's faced:

"Last year I played against A.J. Hawk and Kris Mick (South Carolina). This year I played against Marcus Freeman."

Away from the field:

"I play basketball and I enjoy doing that. I like to hang out with all my friends. We get together every weekend and watch football and watch basketball, have a lot of fun, go out to see a movie or to the mall."

Xenia's outlook for this year:

"We lost a few key players, but everybody’s working hard in the weight room… we’re looking very good; our backfield’s back, we have two great quarterbacks fighting for a spot. We’ll pass the ball more than we have in the past and we’ll run the ball for about 200 yards a game, maybe more than that, probably around about 250 tops. We’ll the run the ball and pass the ball more too to keep teams honest... I think we’ll be very strong and tough to keep up with. Our schedule’s tougher too."