Berrien Springs High School is a place college coaches recruiting the Michigan lake shore will have to find, as they have a 6'6, 265-lb junior offensive lineman with next level ability in Nick Padla.
A handful of schools from across the country have already reached out to Padla, and he is hearing from some heavy hitters early in the process.
"Michigan invited me to their camp this summer and I went. They called my coach this week and same as Cincinnati. They sent mail, Pittsburgh sent a camp invite, Akron, Indiana, Ohio State contacted my coach, Wisconsin and USC invited me to their camp."
The school recruiting Padla the hardest right now though, is Michigan State.
"I've been to the last two Michigan State home games. Everyone's just pumped up, the crowd is pumped, and it seemed like one family together. It's really great."
Michigan State's offensive line coach and area recruiter Mark State is from Dowagiac, not far from Berrien Springs, invited Padla to camp over the summer and has been to a few of his games. That is how the Spartan recruitment of him began, and his relationship with the coaches has developed since.
"I talked to Coach Dantonio, just for a minute because he had to go to the field. I said hi to him. Coach Staten I talked to a couple times and talked about how I fit in and how the number one thing is family at school and how they like to be as one, not all separate, but one as a family. I really like that."
Padla plays right guard and defensive end for Berrien Springs, but says he is being recruited mostly as a guard.