Bellevue (Wash.) offensive lineman David DeCastro had
offers from all around the West Coast, but in a surprising move, he spurned the
two in-state programs and committed to Stanford.
The 6-4, 285-pound lineman had Cardinal head coach
Jim Harbaugh on his campus and with Harbaugh visiting, he made it quick and
brief and commited.
"I just told him that I want to be a
Cardinal. I wanted to commit," DeCastro told
TheBootleg.com. "It
was pretty cool. You could just tell he was excited.
He pumped his fist and smiled: 'Yes! Yes!'"
DeCastro's commitment is the third for Stanford in
the class of 2008, joining cornerback Steven Christian
from Sacramento (Calif.) Kennedy and receiver Warren Reuland from Mission Viejo (Calif.)
Chandler (Ariz.) Basha linebacker Kurt Mangum has had
an excellent spring, earning top linebacker honors at the L.A. Scout Combine,
and he again stood out this past weekend at the Adidas Elite Camp in Los
Angeles.
Mangum played out of position last season at
Hamilton, playing on the defensive line on their state champion team, and
recording 67 tackles and seven sacks. Now at Basha, he'll play linebacker
and during the spring, he's showed the transition isn't going to be too
difficult for him.
While he is still waiting for his first offer, Mangum said he has been hearing from UCLA,
California, Colorado, Illinois, Purdue, Stanford, ASU, Arizona, and Kentucky.
Also, USC’s Pete Carroll recently came out to his high school during the
evaluation period. Mangum says his top schools consist of UCLA, USC,
Cal, Stanford, ASU, and Illinois.
San Jacinto (Calif.) offensive tackle Ryan Dannewitz (6-6.5, 280) is one of the
best remaining offensive tackles on the West Coast available, and he's standing
at nine offers.“Louisville,
Michigan State
and Washington
are my most recent offers,” said Dannewitz. “Oregon,
Arizona,
Arizona State,
San Diego State,
Fresno State, and
Colorado all
had offered me before.”
And recently, two Pac-10 schools and two other
national names have picked up their recruitment of him.
“I’m hearing more and more from
UCLA and I still
hear from Notre Dame. Ole Miss and
Stanford have also been showing more interest in
me,” said Dannewitz.
Dannewitz was hoping to
make a decision before the summer, but he said that is becoming less and less
likely with more offers rolling in.
Van Nuys (Calif.) Birmingham running back Milton Knox,
the Los Angeles City Player of the Year as a junior, finally got a hometown
offer, picking up one from UCLA.The Bruins offer
joins offers from Florida State, Ole Miss, San Diego
State and Arizona, and two of those schools are included
in his top five.
“My top five schools are UCLA, Cal, Notre Dame,
Florida State and Florida,” said Knox. “I don’t really
have a leader from them, but those are the schools I’d
probably visit.”
Knox said he would likely be
making a decision closer to Signing Day, despite early speculation that he'd
make a commitment during his junior year.
The top tight end in California, Blake Ayles from Orange
(Calif.) Lutheran has offers from all over the country and he's planning to make
some visits this summer to help him pare his list down."I haven't been to any
spring games or anything," he told Scout.com. "I went to SC's last year. This
summer, I might go back to Ohio (State) and
Wisconsin to
visit. Also,
Arizona State too. Those will probably be the three
summer trips I take."
Ayles, who had 43 receptions for 616 yards and three
touchdowns last season, has over 20 offers, and he's
focusing on a top five with another school known for
producing quality tight ends also in the mix.
"It's Wisconsin, Arizona State,
USC,
Ohio State,
and Cal," he said. "Those are the main five.
Miami is on the
edge there."