Frankie Telfort, the 5-foot-11, 197-pound four-star linebacker/safety from Gulliver Prep in Miami, Fla., missed half of his junior season because of a torn right thumb ligament, yet still managed to have 66 tackles, four fumbles caused and two fumbles recovered. He played the remainder of the season in a cast.
"I have good speed, knowledge and explosiveness," Telfort said. "A lot of people say I play like Ray Lewis and go crazy on the field sometimes. I'm also a good leader on the field.
"Even though I have good speed, you can never get fast enough," he said. "I want to improve my closing speed and work on taking better angles."
He says he can bench press 285 pounds and squats 520. Telfort claims a 32-inch vertical jump and says he can run a 4.55 forty.
Telfort already has 14 scholarship offers with more on the way. "I don't have any real favorites right now," he said. "I don't think I'll be making a decision any time soon. I have a lot of choices from so many great schools that it's really hard to decide. It would be easy if I only have like two or three to choose from."
Although he denies a favorite, Telfort says he plans to visit Alabama, USC (no offer), Georgia Tech, LSU and Oregon (no offer) during the spring and summer. He attended Florida's Junior Day and has been to Miami several times since they are only about 10 minutes away. But Telfort insists distance won't be a factor.
"I plan to go on a few unofficial visits during spring break and I'll be visiting a lot of schools during the summer too," he said.
One school that Telfort is especially looking forward to visiting is USC. "It's Cali!," Telfort exclaimed. "I've heard some amazing things about California and about the Coliseum. I heard you're just in awe when you step out on the field over there. It's supposed to be a different vibe out there and I can't wait to see if I could fit in. I really want to get a chance and check out as many different places as possible."
Another school out west that Telfort expects to visit unofficially is Oregon. "They haven't offered me yet, but they've been talking to my coach a lot recently," he said. "I've heard it's a great program and the facilities are supposed to be the best. They were having a really great season until their QB (Dennis Dixon) went down."
Telfort does have offers from Alabama, Georgia Tech, Miami, LSU, Florida, Florida State, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Florida International, Central Florida, USF, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
"I've always loved Miami," Telfort said. "The 2001 team was the best. I loved that team. They just had an amazing defense and I think every defensive guy from that team went to the NFL. They were stacked.
"I also like coach Randy Shannon and he's got a good recruiting class coming in, especially at linebacker. I think they'll be really competitive in a year or two."
Another connection Telfort has with the 'Canes is that his mom went there. "But she's actually a Gator fan," he said. "It's strange. I can't even explain it."
Despite Miami being the home team, he says that Florida is actually recruiting him the hardest. "I've been to the Florida campus a lot already," he said. "I went to the Auburn game last year and there was amazing energy there. Nobody sat down like the whole game.
"The junior day was really nice too and I already have a good relationship with the coaches," he said. "They are recruiting me a lot right now and I was being recruited by coach Doc Holliday, but he's at West Virginia now."
In fact, Telfort says the Mountaineers were his latest offer and he expects to be recruited heavily by them as well."
Telfort doesn't have any combines or camps scheduled yet, but says he'll likely attend a few over the summer.
Another school that he plans on visiting is Georgia Tech. "They run a 3-4 defense and it's a different style, but I think I'd be able to fit in well there because I can play all four of those positions," he said.
"I'll go check out LSU too," he said. "They are a powerhouse. It's stacked and I like that they play all of their players and not just their starters. All the backup guys are great and that makes me think I'd be able to play early there."
Telfort appreciates the competitiveness of the SEC. "You never know who's going to win," Telfort said. "It's a coin flip in the SEC. LSU could win it all next year or it could be Florida or even Alabama. They really all have a chance."
He reports a 3.3 core GPA and is taking the SAT in June for the first time.