Prospect's Osei: Don't sell me short

Miles Osei dreams he could grow to be 6-4 or 6-5, like every quarterback who’s 6-1 going on 6 feet tall. But he knows it won’t happen.

So the Prospect junior is comfortable in his own skin and determined to show college coaches they won’t find anyone bigger who is better. Prospect coach Brent Pearlman doubts they will.

‘‘He is the best player I’ve coached in 10 years,’’ said Pearlman, who produced three state championship teams earlier in this decade.

Said Osei: ‘‘I’m happy in my body. The schools I talk to haven’t mentioned size being a factor. If a school is looking for a 6-4 quarterback and want to try me out, I’ll try to win over that position.

‘‘I tell them that I’m a winner. If I have a job to do, I can do it at the elite level. Some kids can’t. I am quicker than most 6-4 or 6-5 guys. I’m more athletic than most kids. I’m smarter, can improvise on the run and use my feet like 6-4 and 6-5 kids can’t. I’m more mobile and can escape pressure and throw on the run. I can throw with the best of them.’’

Last season, while running a five-wide-and-let-it-fly spread offense, Osei completed 145 of 225 passes for 2,238 yards and 22 touchdowns and rushed 170 times for 1,237 yards and 18 touchdowns for a 7-3 team. He was intercepted twice and averaged 347 yards per game in total offense.

Recruiters are impressed. He has scholarship offers from Northern Illinois, Akron, Illinois State and Air Force.

Northwestern, Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Michigan State, Iowa, South Florida, Kansas, Arizona, Oregon, Ball State, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan have expressed interest. The list is growing.

Osei, who grew up in Miami and moved to Chicago when he was 8, wants to weigh all of his options. But he admits his ‘‘absolute dream school’’ is Florida. He grew up as a huge Gators fan and wants to be ‘‘the next Tim Tebow’’ if the opportunity is there. The Florida coaching staff has Osei’s highlight tape, and he hopes coach Urban Meyer will show some interest.

‘‘I want to let them know I am alive,’’ Osei said.

In the meantime, he is a pitcher and first baseman on Prospect’s baseball team and planning to attend as many one-day football camps as he can this summer to generate as much exposure as possible. In his wildest dream, he hopes White Sox general manager Ken Williams will draft him.

‘‘Before this year, I played basketball, but I dropped it to get more rest,’’ Osei said. ‘‘I never considered dropping baseball. It would be cool to get an offer to play college baseball. But my heart is in football.’’

Pearlman told him before his junior year that he could play at a major Division I school.

‘‘I was shocked,’’ Osei said. ‘‘I didn’t realize I was that good. You see them on television and realize it could be you in two years, playing with those guys. It is exciting to know that the teams you see on TV are interested in you.’’

Then Pearlman incorporated a more explosive version of the spread offense he introduced in 2005. Osei said he felt like a little kid in a candy store, picking and choosing different ways to score on his opponents.

‘‘The fun of a spread offense is sitting back and getting to see everything that is going on,’’ he said. ‘‘The way [Pearlman] has designed the offense, there are a lot of angles to get yardage. It’s tough for defenses to stop it.

‘‘It was exciting to see him draw up plays, seeing how the offense worked. Each year, the team names the offense. Last year, it was called Burn, for being unstoppable. This year? We don’t know yet. Maybe Fantom or Lightning. The way we run the offense, it is like a quick lightning bolt.’’