Recently in Ohio State Category

While breaking down Wheaton North during the next two weeks, Naperville Central and Naperville North won't have to plan for Falcons quarterback Taylor Graham. The senior - who has verbally committed to Ohio State and is the son of Kent, the former NFL quarterback - is out with a knee injury.

"He's done," Wheaton North coach Joe Wardynski said Wednesday. "He won't play again (this season)."

Graham missed a significant part of his junior season with a broken ankle. The 6-foot-5-inch, 215-pound pocket passer then injured his knee during a Week 2 defeat at Lake Zurich. The knee problem was aggravated again when he returned to last week's 45-0 loss to Wheaton Warrenville South.

"I feel bad for the kid," Wardynski said. "He had - what? - four-and-a-half games where he was healthy last year. And one-and-a-half games this year."

In what's shaping up as a banner year for Chicago-area quarterbacks, Lake Forest's Tommy Rees has verbally committed to Notre Dame. Tuesday's announcement means that Rees will join Downers Grove South's Chandler Whitmer (Illinois) and Wheaton North's Taylor Graham (Ohio State) as BCS-caliber quarterbacks. Rees' father Bill is a former UCLA assistant and front-office staffer for several NFL organizations.

The DuPage Valley Conference just got a little more interesting for the 2009 season. Wheaton North quarterback Taylor Graham has verbally committed to Ohio State, where his father Kent once played before beginning a long NFL career.

Graham reportedly picked the Buckeyes over Michigan State, UCLA, Wisconsin, Iowa, Arkansas, Colorado and Duke.

"I had all the information I needed to make my decision," Graham told Taylor Bell of the Chicago Sun-Times. "I felt comfortable. It wasn't just because my dad went there. I felt God led me there."

Waubonsie Valley senior kicker Mitch Ewald has been selected to play in the Offense-Defense All-American Bowl.

The Indiana recruit is one of 88 players from across the country chosen for the Jan. 2 event, which will be broadcast live on the Fox College Sports network from the Coastal Carolina campus just outside Myrtle Beach, S.C.

In 2008 Ewald converted four of six field goals and 31 of 34 PATs for the Warriors. He also yielded touchbacks on 80 percent of his kickoffs.

Other players set to participate have made verbal commitments to programs such as Ohio State, Notre Dame, Alabama, Georgia and Florida State.

Illinois natives on the bowl's roster include: East St. Louis defensive back Tommie Hopkins; East St. Louis defensive end Ty Phillips; Simeon linebacker Tyrell Webster; and Hubbard linebacker Darius Moffett.