I'm entertaining all ideas at this point WW. I got the starter in and out without too much trouble considering it's placement when I pulled it to get it tested, but that doesn't mean much if the bell housing is somehow off. If that ws the case, wouldn't I be seeing some large oil leak? I'm a little over my head with my lack of experience, so my apologies if this is a stupid question.

EDIT:

You know, I may be completely writing out of my a$$ right now, and this is purely conjecture at this point. But I wonder if this would be an indication of a bad rear crank bearing, but the front bearing is fine? Here's my thinking: I can turn the engine over fine by hand with a ratchet on the crank bolt. There is no deflection in the bearing so it rotates freely. But when using the starter to turn over, it is creating pressure on the flywheel and a bad rear bearing causing it to bind up. Does that theory make any sense?