Plato Nearing Decision

The recruitment of Nick Plato has gotten interesting of late. The big tight end from Edwardsville (IL) has several offers, including one from the #3 team in the land. Plato talks about the surprising Kansas Jayhawks, his favorites and a timetable for his decision.

Nick Plato turns 18 soon. The three-star tight end from Edwardsville High has a loaded next couple of weeks as his birthday could coincide with a comittment as well as his last few days of high school.

"I'm graduating early," he reported, "I'll be done at Christmas, so I know I need to make a decision soon. My birthday is the 28th of November and I wanted to do it then, but I don't think I'll be able to so it will probably be a week or two after that."

Part of why he won't be able to have his mind made up by then is his visits schedule. He will be on his official visit to Kansas this week and is working on heading to Oklahoma State and Illinois in the following weeks.

Plato has already taken an official to Boston College, but the Eagles are among the teams looking up at the Jayhawks and Cowboys.

"Kansas and Oklahoma State are my top two schools along with Illinois. Other schools that I'm considering are Texas A&M, Colorado and Wisconsin."

The Jayhawks have made a ton of progress on the field and as a result, in the recruitment of Plato. He has been particularly impressed with the man behind the wheel of the Kansas machine.

"I've been real surprised by what Kansas has done," he admitted, "Coach Mangino is turning that place around. He's been real determined and worked real hard. I'd really like to play for a coach like that. They're not known for football, but he's turning it into a football place."

So what will make the difference for Plato? As noted before, he is graduating early and academics will play a big role in his decision.

"I'm looking for a mixture of a lot of things. Playing time isn't a big factor, because no matter what, you have to go in and work your tail off, you can't take anything for granted. Academics is going to be important. I can't rely on going to the NFL, if that doesn't work out, I want to get a good job and have a good degree to fall back on."

For the season, Plato caught five passes for 96 yards and recorded 28 tackles, two sacks, a pass breakup and a fumble recovery for a touchdwon.