Blue-Chips Journal: Greg Olsen

Blue-chip recruit Greg Olsen from Wayne Hills, N.J. is 6-foot-6, 235 pounds and can run a 4.7 second 40-yard dash. He plays both tight end and defensive end and college recruiters label him as one of the top high school players in the country for this upcoming football season.

Greg's brother, Chris, was heavily recruited last season as a quarterback and eventually signed with Notre Dame. We will be following Greg’s recruiting process until Letter of Intent Day in February 2003. Updates will come every two weeks.

Here is a list of Division One schools that have already offered Greg a football scholarship.

Boston College, Connecticut, Duke, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Miami, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Southern Cal, Stanford, Syracuse, Temple, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and West Virginia.

Sunday, Feb. 3

Greg starts the month with a 30-minute drive to Rutgers University for a junior day visit. He attends a Rutgers basketball game along with other New Jersey recruits and Rutgers fans greet them with a standing ovation. Greg meets with head coach Greg Schiano and his staff before, during and after the game. He was very impressed with his home-state school.

Thursday, Feb. 7

Greg returns home from high school to find hand-written letters from Boston College and Northwestern.

Week of Feb. 8 thru 15

Greg receives more than 50 letters as schools from every major conference in the country are now writing him.

Saturday, Feb. 16

Greg and family travel four hours to the University of Maryland. They spend Friday evening sight seeing at the Baltimore Inner Harbor.

Sunday, Feb. 17

Attends the Maryland Junior Day as he and other recruits watch the Maryland-Duke basketball game. After, he meets with head coach Ralph Friedgen. During the meeting, he is handed a letter from coach Friedgen with a scholarship offer. Greg is impressed with the visit.

Later that evening he returns home to find hand-written letters from Rutgers, Virginia, Boston College, Iowa and Michigan State. He receives an offer from Wake Forest and is also invited to the Nike Camp to be held on April 21 at Penn State.

Tuesday, Feb. 19

Greg receives letters from Rutgers, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Virginia, Syracuse, and Pittsburgh. He is also invited to Tennessee for their Junior Day. Nebraska calls his high school coach, Chris Olsen Sr., and invites Greg to attend their junior day as well. Greg is coached by his father at Wayne Hills.

Sunday, Feb. 24

Greg and his dad travel six hours to the University of Syracuse for his third junior day of the year. Head coach Paul Pasqualoni greets him as he arrives and he spends quality time with the Syracuse head coach and others on the staff. He also goes into the heart of the campus and checks on the living quarters. It is the first time during any of his visits that he is able to see the inside of a dorm room. Greg liked Syracuse very much.

Monday, Feb. 25

When he returns home from school, he has hand-written letters from Iowa, Rutgers, Wisconsin, Virginia and Boston College.

Wednesday, Feb. 27

Again he receives hand-written letters from Virginia, Boston College, Indiana and Notre Dame. The letter from the University of Indiana is a scholarship offer.

Thursday, Feb. 28

Letters come from NC State, Boston College, Maryland, Virginia, Notre Dame, LSU, Michigan State, Southern Cal and South Carolina. Michigan calls coach Olsen and offers Greg a scholarship.

Friday, March 1

Letters from LSU, Boston College, UCLA, South Carolina, Stanford, Georgia Tech, Colorado, Purdue, Duke, Wake Forest, Virginia and West Virginia arrive in the mail. Nebraska calls coach Olsen and offers Greg a scholarship. Brigham Young sends a hand-written letter with an article about Greg being selected to a particular high school All-America team.

Stay tuned, we will update again in two weeks and will be covering March 2 through March 16.