Brandon Beachum, the 6-foot-1, 220-pound four-star linebacker/running back from Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown, Ohio, has 26 scholarship offers, but he denies a leader. "I'll know exactly where I'm going by the end of November," Beachum said. "I'm graduating early and will enroll in college in January."
Although Beachum denies a leader, he said he favors Wisconsin, LSU, Florida State, Michigan and Ohio State, all of whom have offered. He also has offers from Oklahoma, Pittsburgh, Miami of Ohio, Cincinnati, North Carolina State, Louisville, Nebraska, Mississippi, Illinois, Colorado, Michigan State and others.
"I recently visited Wisconsin and basically fell in love with them," he said. "They have a great program and the new coaches are great. They have a young staff and young players and I think they'll be on top for a long time. The new head coach (Bret Bielema) is awesome. He's a players' coach and really seems devoted to his players and the team. Also, they have a second-to-none weight program."
He says the Badgers are recruiting him for running back, while most of the others are saying he can go both ways.
Beachum, ranked No. 20 in the Midwest by Scout.com, also plans to visit Florida State in July. "Coach Bobby Bowden is legendary," he said. "He's been there forever and they are trying to get back to the top again. They have a lot of talent there."
Beachum will be at the Michigan camp on June 19, Ohio State on June 22 and Penn State on June 23.
"Michigan has amazing tradition and I actually know a few guys on the team already," Beachum said. "They are still on the rise and have some of the best academics in the Big Ten.
"Ohio State has great tradition too and coach Jim Tressel is from my area," he said. "They continually get the best of the best and the coaches are just good people.
"I want to play for quality coaches with great character. Checking out the schools' players can tell you a lot about the character of the coaching staff," Beachum said.
Beachum finished his junior season with over 100 tackles and 3 interceptions. Offensively, he had around 1500 yards rushing.
"I want to major in either business communications or marketing," he said.
Beachum reports a 3.3 core GPA and a 19 ACT.