Jackson Powell, the 6-foot-5, 220-pound three-star defensive end from Newbury Park, Calif., has eight total scholarship offers and says he has now narrowed his focus basically down to two schools - Arizona and Washington.
"I really like both of them," Powell said. "It's really between those two. They both have coaches that I really like and could see myself playing for."
He says the Wildcats and Huskies lead solidly over California, Nevada and Utah. All of his favorites have offered as well as Oregon, UNLV, Wyoming and San Diego State.
"Arizona is recruiting me the most," he said. "They send me the most mail and keep me updated on everything that's going on at the school.
"I'm being recruited by (wide receiver) coach David Nichol and he's a great guy," Powell said. "I like how he seems really interested to get to know me and the kinds of things I like to do. We don't just talk about football."
Powell, ranked as the No. 63 defensive end in the country by Scout.com, has already visited Arizona and came away impressed. "It seems like a really nice place," he said. "It's really laid back over there. The people are all great and easy to talk to."
Although he says he generally likes the weather at Arizona, he admitted it did get a bit hot. "It was nice and the weather is always good there, but it definitely got hot," he said.
He didn't attend any camps during the summer despite his early intentions to camp at Arizona, Cal and Boise State. Aside from Arizona, Powell has also visited California.
"My sister went to Cal," he said. "I really love the campus and the environment at Berkeley. The city is great, but I'm not really looking at them anymore. My sister said that it's a hard school to graduate from and I know that they are a great school, but I want to go where I'll be able to focus a bit more on football."
Powell hasn't scheduled any official visits yet, but says he'll definitely trip to Washington. "I've never been there," he said. "My cousin goes there (no sports) and he says it's a great campus and environment. He says that I'd really like it there."
Powell says he'd like to make a decision within the next two months. "I'm hoping to make a decision in early October," he said. "I'd like to take a few early visits and see how the teams do. I want to see how they all look and how they play. It's really not going to make a difference if they are winning or not, but I just want to see how I'd fit in."
Powell said he followed USC as a youngster because both his father (Marvin Powell) and brother (Marvin Powell, Jr) were Trojans. "They aren't recruiting me though," he said.
Powell took Algebra II during the summer and reports a 3.0 core GPA and a 1500 SAT.