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By Kent Larsen
LDS High School Quarterback Rated #1
THOUSAND OAKS, CALIFORNIA -- Ben Olsen will start his senior year at
Thousand Oaks High School this fall, and as he leads the Lancers in
their 11-game season, scouts and recruiters from college football
powerhouses will be in the stands watching. Student Sports Magazine
ranks Olsen in its Top 100, and, according to an article in the Provo
Daily Herald, he is the best of the 10 quarterbacks on the list.
Olsen played phenomenally in his junior year at Thousand Oaks,
passing for 2,416 yards and 13 touchdowns, and earning the Marmonte
League Offensive Player of the Year award. He also gave a phenomenal
showing at a Nike Camp at Stanford University last month, running the
40-yard-dash in 4.65 seconds and the shuttle in 4.1 seconds. He also
had an impressive 35-inch vertical leap.
Already he has been heavily recruited, making the Los Angeles Times'
February list of 14 quarterbacks in the Los Angeles Valley and
Ventura County recruited since 1999. Olsen was one of two
quarterbacks graduating in 2002 that had already been recruited. And
the Daily Herald's Harmon says that former BYU coach LaVell Edwards
already offered Olson a scholarship last summer when he attended
Cougar summer football camp last year.
He is expected to attend again this year, and no doubt current BYU
coach Gary Crowton will renew the offer. But Brentt Eads of Student
Sports Magazine says he'll have plenty of competition, "If Ben
doesn't sign with BYU, it won't be because recruiters there haven't
done their job," says Eads. "They're all over him."
Harmon says this is the first time that BYU is actually in
competition for a No. 1 prospect. No previous BYU player has been
this highly rated in high school. And, while BYU may have an
advantage because Olsen is LDS, it will still have to show Olson that
it can help him reach his potential and make the NFL. To do so,
Harmon says, "BYU will have to win in 2001 because [Olsen] isn't
going to sign with a loser."
Sources:
BYU must win to have chance at top prep QB
Provo UT Daily Herald pgB1 5Jun01 S2
By Dick Harmon
Valley Area Now Fertile Ground for Quarterbacks
Los Angeles Times 7Feb01 S2
By Eric Sondheimer
Westlake football dominates Marmonte League award
Agoura Hills CA Acorn 28Dec00 S2
By John Loesing: Acorn Staff Writer
See also:
See also:
LDS High School Football Star Profiled
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