He's been the talk of Buckeye fans who follow recruiting all year long -- and he's now a Buckeye.

Running back Maurice Wells of Jacksonville (Fla.) Sandalwood has made it official as he has announced he will be attending Ohio State. The speedy running back chose Ohio State over Georgia Tech and also had offers from dozens of schools, including USC, Notre Dame, and Michigan.

Wells placed an Ohio State hat on his head on live television a short time ago and declared, "When it's all said and done, I'm going to be a Buckeye."

Wells rushed for over 3,000 yards in his junior season and over 5,000 for his career. Wells put up 31 touchdowns in his junior year and had a one-game output of 429 yards. He was named Nike Camp MVP in Atlanta over the summer, running a 4.4-second 40-yard dash and performing 20 bench press reps of 185 pounds.

Wells, who has family in Columbus, took an official visit to Ohio State in November for the Michigan game. He actually made his decision a short time after the visit.

"I have family in the Columbus area," Wells said earlier in the week. "My mom, her whole side is from Columbus. We lived there for a little bit. But Georgia Tech -- my head coach at my high school, his dad is an assistant at Georgia Tech. Both the schools were my first two scholarship offers. They recruited me from the beginning. They both showed that they really needed me and they really wanted me. I liked that." 

Wells scored an 890 on his SAT and holds a 3.5 GPA. He is rated by Scout.com as the No. 9 running back in America and the No. 67 overall player in America. Wells is rated by Charles Fishbein of FloridaKids.net as the No. 21 overall prospect in Florida.

We also have an exclusive interview taped with Maurice Wells, during which he explains his decision to attend Ohio State (premium link) as well as some highlight footage. To watch these videos, you will need Microsoft Media Player. Click here to here download the most recent version of Media Player. Click on a link below:

Maurice Wells Interview

Highlight film (premium links): Video 1 | Video 2