DaytonDailyNews.com

COLUMBUS — Ohio State strength coach Eric Lichter normally left players panting and dragging during his summer conditioning program. But running back Chris "Beanie" Wells always felt after one of those arduous sessions as if he were just getting started.

The 6-foot-1, 230-pound sophomore staged his own version of two-a-days in the offseason, working out with the team's veterans at 6 a.m. and, after a break for lunch and classes, returning in the afternoon for another round with the younger players.

"The workouts with Coach Lichter were tough," Wells said. "You were either gonna go hard or you were gonna go home."

After 90 minutes of weightlifting, the players spent about an hour doing agility drills, hill training and running in sand.

"It was a lot of grueling stuff," Lichter said. "Basically, guys were working their butts off. A few came sporadically (to two sessions), but he was the only one to make it a staple."

But even those marathon days weren't always enough. Wells rallied teammates Lawrence Wilson and Brian Robiskie for weekend workouts, sometimes calling them at midnight and prodding them into running the stairs at the Jesse Owens track stadium.

Asked about his motivation, Wells said, "It's just my passion for the game — wanting to be the best I can be at The Ohio State University."

Wells scored touchdowns in six of his last seven games as a freshman, but running backs coach Dick Tressel believes that's only a glimpse of things to come.

"I think he'll be beyond all the issues that first-year guys have, just being wide-eyed at the whole speed of the thing," Tressel said.

Wells lost four fumbles last year, burping up one without even being touched. But Tressel is certain those problems are in the past.

"He understands the priorities of what you have to focus on," Tressel said. "He understands ball security first and touchdowns second. As a freshman, there's so many things going on in your mind, you don't have that ball security first.

"People complain he was a fumbler, yada, yada, yada. That didn't have anything to do with his skill. It had to do with guys were hitting him like he's never been hit before, coming from different directions. He was thinking about other things sometimes."

Collisions with Wells in practice have been known to leave defenders dizzy, and quarterback Todd Boeckman believes opponents need to be warned about the hazards of getting in his teammate's path.

"He's an unbelievable talent," Boeckman said. "He's big, he's strong, he's fast. That speed, laying that hit on you, he can do a lot of good things."

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2125 or at dharris@DaytonDailyNews.com.