COLUMBUS, Ohio — When he was growing up in Detroit, Vernon Gholston always wanted to be a professional basketball player.

He got it half right. Gholston's figures to be one of the first names — maybe even the very first — announced from the podium in the opening round of the NFL draft on Saturday.

Just seven years after picking up the game in earnest, the former Ohio State defensive end will be the perfect fit for some team looking for an athletic pass-rusher and team leader.

Gholston is looking for the right fit, too.

"Of course you want to go as high as you can and be No. 1," the 6-foot-4, 264-pounder said. "But at the end of the day, I feel more that the team that selects me is the team that wanted me most. That's the team I'll be happiest with. I'll take pride in wherever I go to and be thankful that they wanted me and put me in the best situation."

Until recently, NFL teams hadn't put much stock in character, or else Nebraska's Lawrence Phillips wouldn't have been the No. 6 pick in the first round by the St. Louis Rams in 1996. Phillips, who was in trouble in college, as a pro and an ex-pro, had talent.

In Gholston's case, his personality, coupled with his talent, makes him that much more of an asset to a team.

"Whoever gets Vernon is obviously getting a great football player but they're getting a better person," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said last week.

While killing time before the draft, and in between trips to meet with NFL coaches, scouts and personnel directors, Gholston visited his former Buckeyes teammates while they were choosing players for their annual spring intrasquad scrimmage.

With an ear-to-ear grin, he walked to a blackboard in front of the room and carefully wrote his name in at defensive end. He had no intention of playing _ nor would his agent or any college coach let him _ but he wanted to be part of the fun. While several players assailed him with rude and funny comments, he smiled as he made his way back to his seat.

Tressel could only shake his head.

"He could be out there sitting in some Escalade with a flat-screen TV and separating himself, but where would he rather be?" Tressel said, nodding toward the parking lot of the team's practice facility. "He'd rather be with his teammates. That's him."

Gholston didn't play football his freshman year at Cass Tech High in the Motor City, but caught on quickly. By the time he was a senior, he was all-state.

Ohio State took a flyer on the late-bloomer. He was recruited as a linebacker and it paid huge dividends, though, again, it took time. He never played more than 3 minutes in a game as a freshman, then was redshirted after breaking his left hand in the season-opener the next year.

When he finally got to play as a third-year sophomore, he made up for lost time. Selected second-team All-Big Ten, he started all 13 games and had 7.5 sacks and 15 tackles for negative yardage. Still, he was erratic and would get blown out of a play more often than he would alter it.

But he absolutely erupted a year ago, breaking current New England Patriot Mike Vrabel's school record by stockpiling 14 sacks.

"His sophomore year he was average, but he really improved from his sophomore to junior year and then he really came on last year," Ohio State co-defensive coordinator Jim Heacock said. "He was active. He was making plays. Probably the thing Vern did best was play over a tight end, something that nobody ever sees. A lot of our run defense can be attributed to his controlling the tight ends."

One of the few questions surrounding Gholston is where to play him in the pros. He was a defensive end in Ohio State's 4-3 defense, but could play either end or outside linebacker in an NFL team's 3-4 alignment.

"Gholston has excited people," ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. told the Kansas City Star. "Those kinds of players, those attacking, outside-linebacker/defensive-end types, are going to help you right away."

So maybe Gholston's next team won't have to wait.

Ohio State churns out high draft picks every year, but seldom does a player leave behind so many admirers. Everyone on the team seemed to look up to Gholston as a big brother.

Coaching staffs occasionally grow tired of players. But in Gholston's case, his coaches can't say enough good things about the kid who wanted to be in the NBA but seems destined for NFL stardom.

"It just shows you that good things happen to good people," Tressel said. "He may be one of the top five or six picks in the whole draft. You'd have never bet that when in the ninth grade he didn't play football."

Gholston is obviously a fast learner.