Pumped-up Clarett vows he's healthy

The freshman from Youngstown is nursing an injury in his left shoulder.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
COLUMBUS -- Maurice Clarett came out of the locker room after Saturday's overtime victory at Illinois already pumped for Michigan.
A stinger and bruised AC joint in his left shoulder had just sidelined Ohio State's 1,000-yard rusher for the second game this season.
But the freshman tailback from Youngstown still vowed he would not miss this weekend's showdown, as the No. 2 Buckeyes (12-0) host the No. 12 Wolverines (9-2). On the line for OSU is a chance to play for the national championship Jan. 3 in the Fiesta Bowl.
"I wouldn't care if I was 20 percent, you're going to see Maurice Clarett on the field," Clarett said. "I'm 100 percent. I'm ready to play. I'm excited to play. It's Michigan week."
When Clarett came up behind senior defensive tackle Kenny Peterson, a television reporter asked Peterson if Clarett would play against Michigan. Clarett grabbed the microphone and answered emphatically, "Yes."
Another view
Ohio State coach Jim Tressel was not as emphatic Tuesday but said, "I expect him to play this week."
"The trainers say that his strength is much better than it was a week ago," Tressel said of Clarett's shoulder. "Yet his strength was right on the edge of being able to go last weekend, probably could have. I would bet that if the Illinois game was the last regular-season game that he would have gone."
In nine games, Clarett has rushed for 1,071 yards and scored 15 touchdowns, 13 on the ground.
He has six 100-yard games and needs only 56 yards to break the team's freshman rushing record set by Robert Smith in 1990.
Clarett also missed the Nov. 2 game against Minnesota because of the shoulder injury, suffered on the final series at Wisconsin on Oct. 19.
Yardage decline
After Wisconsin, where Clarett ran for 133 yards, OSU was averaging 229.4 rushing yards per game. He's carried only 18 times in the past four games (missing two), and the team rushing average in that four-game span is 139.5.
When asked if he was saving Clarett for the Wolverines, Tressel didn't deny it. After Saturday, Clarett will have 51/2 weeks to rest the shoulder until a bowl game on Jan. 1 or Jan. 3.
"If it were the last game, there are medical opinions and the personal opinion Maurice had about how he was feeling, 'How close to 100 percent are you?' " Tressel said. "I think they become a little bit more gray when you know, 'What's the difference, we've got six weeks after that.' "
Clarett doesn't just plan to play against the Wolverines, he plans to run like he did early this season.
"I'm going to be aggressive," he told the Columbus Dispatch on Saturday. "I'm not stepping around people or running out of bounds. If I get hurt on the first play, the sixth play or the 60th play, it doesn't matter. I've got four weeks to recover."