Jonathan Scott, the 6-foot-4, 195-pound three-star safety from SeaBreeze High School in Daytona Beach, Fla., helped lead his team to the state 4A regional finals, where they lost to St. Augustine High School. SeaBreeze finished the year with a 12-1 record and Scott had 40 tackles, two fumbles caused, one fumble recovered and one interception.
"I can cover a lot of ground and I move good," Scott said. "I have a long wing span and am a good size for a safety. I also love to hit and am a hard hitter.
"I'm working on improving my ball awareness," he said. "I also want to improve my speed. My goal is to get my 40 time in the 4.3-4.4 range (he claims to run a 4.5 now). I'm spending a lot of time working on my legs and getting stronger."
Scott, ranked as the No. 23 safety in the country by Scout.com, has 15 scholarship offers, but says still "wide open."
"I'm still pretty open right now," he admitted. "I probably won't have a top five until the end of summer and just before my season starts.
Growing up, Scott says he followed Florida State, but says he's not really considering the 'Noles. "I used to watch them a lot because they'd win a lot of games and I liked coach Bobby Bowden," he said. "But right now they aren't really on my list. That's not a school I'm thinking about."
Some of the schools that Scott is considering, however, are South Carolina, LSU and Michigan. All of them have offered as well as Auburn, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Alabama, Ole Miss, Rutgers and Central Florida, among others.
"I want to make sure I like all the coaches and have time to build a relationship with them and the players," he said. "I'd also like to play early and make an impact. I probably won't make a decision until after the season."
Scott comes from a football family as both of his older brothers are playing college ball. His brother, Kenny Scott, is a cornerback for Georgia Tech and he has another brother, James Scott who is a sophomore cornerback for Ohio State.
"I think if I went to Michigan it would be fun to play against my brother," he said. "That's a big rivalry (against Ohio State) and a great game. I haven't really talked to him about how he'd feel about it, but Michigan is a big-time offer so I'm sure he'd be cool about it.
"I really like coach Rich Rogriguez," he said. "He is coming from West Virginia and was able to make them an elite program, so I think he'll be great at Michigan too."
Scott says he isn't sure if he'll attend any camps this summer, but has already had a chance to visit South Carolina.
"They really showed me a lot of love there," he said. "It's a great stadium and campus and they really all made me feel very comfortable.
"Coach Steve Spurrier seemed very laid back and I like his son (wide receiver coach Steve Spurrier, Jr) too. He's the coach that is recruiting me and I have a good relationship with him. I think they'll definitely be in my top five this fall."
Another school that is likely to make Scott's final five list is LSU. "I like their style of play," he said. "They have a great run stop defense and I could see myself playing there."
In fact, Scott was in attendance for the national championship game last January when the Tigers defeated Ohio State. "We were there when the beat my brother," he said. "But it was still an amazing experience. It was crazy with all the LSU fans and everything. It's something I'll never forget."
Scott is also being recruited for basketball (10 points/8 rebounds per game) and track (6-foot-6 high jumper). "I really want to jump in college too," he said. "I've been doing the high jump my whole life and I'd love to be able to continue doing it."
He says he can bench 260-pounds, squat 355 and claims a 40-inch vertical jump.
Scott reports a 2.8 core GPA and an 830 SAT, which he plans to retake.