Brendan Beal, the 6-foot-3, 236-pound four-star linebacker from Roxbury High School in Succasunna (N.J.), says he has over 50 scholarship offers and has already scheduled three official visits.
Beal, ranked No. 11 in the East by Scout.com, said he favors USC slightly over Boston College, Ohio State, Florida, LSU and Miami. All of his favorites have offered.
He says the Trojans are recruiting him the hardest and he'll be visiting Los Angeles on September 22. "They text me a lot and I talk with the coaches regularly," Beal said. "Ohio State is also recruiting me hard too.
"USC is one of the top programs in the country," he said. "I love coach Ken Norton (linebackers) and his style of defense. He has NFL experience and I like coach Pete Carroll too. He uses what he has and lets guys play early. They develop their players well and they play in one of the of best stages in college football. Also most people don't know that they have a top-10 ranked business school too. It's really a total package there…with the weather, the location, the academics and the football."
In addition, Beal says he has family in California as well. "I have family in Orange County and two cousins who go to Chapman University, which isn't too far from USC. The distance won't be a big deal."
Beal will be taking his first official visits on September 8 to Boston College and then he visits Florida on September 15. He says he plans to commit early during the fall. "I'm planning to make my choice around my birthday, which is on October 12," Beal said. "I want to take a few visits early and decide. If I don't end up committing in October, then I'll wait unit the Army All-America game in January."
This summer he plans on attending camps at LSU and possibly Ohio State. "I went there (Columbus, Ohio) and I love how it's a college town," Beal said. "The linebacker coach (Luke Fickell) is great and we get along really well. They play big linebackers and have a top defense every year. Coach Jim Tressel is straight up and my mom likes him a lot because he always takes time to talk to her.
"Ohio State is also bringing in a great recruiting class and I think they'll win another national championship again."
He reports a 4.3 core GPA and is waiting on his SAT results.