"It was really nice," Purkiss said. " I've never been there before.

"I've also been to Miami (Ohio)," he added. " I was supposed to go to Toledo but we couldn't get that worked out."

All the schools interested in Purkiss are recruiting him as a fullback. He played last year at 270 but is at 255 right now and headed towards 240. Playing a new sport had something to do with his weight change.

" Coach encouraged me to wrestle just to get me weight down and I wound up making it to the state meet," he said. " It was my first year ever wrestling."

Also in attendance was Xenia safety Karl Finkes (6-2, 205,  4.6). Finkes was also making his first trip to OSU.

"It went pretty well," he said. "I really enjoyed myself."

Finkes's trip to Ohio State was just the tip of the iceberg. He has been very busy checking out campuses in recent weeks.

"Over spring break, (teammate and Xenia QB) Josh Cousins and I went to Kentucky, Louisville, Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Toledo, and Bowling Green," Finkes said. "It was a four-day trip. It was a real whirlwind tour. We did two schools a day, and on one day we did three."

Finkes has no offers yet, and everyone is recruiting him as a safety. He says he will definitely camp at OSU and Michigan and will do one-day camps at places like Indiana, Miami (OH), and probably a few others. 

He currently lists no leader.

"It's a tough call right now," Finkes said. "I really have no favorite after seeing all these schools. I really need to digest it."

Finkes is running track for the first time, throwing the shot and discus. 

I've won a couple of firsts in meets, but I'm throwing about 45 feet. Ran a 4.9 at 270. I hope to be down to 4.7 by football season.

Finkes is going to take his test in June. He is in no hurry to make a final decision.

"I think I want to wait," he said. "I want to show the coaches what I can do at 240 pounds.