Julius Forte, the 6-foot-2, 235-pound three-star defensive end from Boca Ciega High School in Gulfport, Fla., has 13 scholarship offers and is now starting to narrow down his list.
"It's really hard to say who is my favorite," Forte explained. "I'm still not sure yet, but I've been thinking about my visits and there probably are like six schools that I'm thinking about visiting."
Those six are North Carolina State, Louisville, Tulane, Indiana, North Carolina and Kentucky.
Local favorite South Florida is only 30 minutes from Forte's house and he likely will not visit the Bulls officially. "They had a great season last year," he said. "And I think they'll show people they are for real this year. They have really good coaches and the team is still getting better."
He attended a South Florida camp earlier this summer.
"I really want to take as many official visits as I can," Forte said. "I want to get a taste for the atmosphere and find a place where I feel comfortable.
"I want to make sure I have a good relationship with the coaches," he said. "I want our relationship to be friendly, but about business. Overall, I'd like to be in a family environment."
Forte says he watched many of the opening games and was especially surprised by one. "I was really surprised that North Carolina State lost to South Carolina," he said. "Hopefully they can go back and watch some film and learn from their mistakes. That's what I'll be looking for. There's still time and they can get better as the season goes along.
"I still think that NC State is up-and-coming," he admitted. "They have a pretty young team and I like how they always have good defensive ends there."
Another school that Forte says is known for producing good defensive ends is the Wolfpack's in-state rival, North Carolina. "They are improving too," he said. "I think the new coaches will be great and help get the football program up."
Forte seems to have a thing for rivals as he admitted he'd like to visit both Louisville and in-state rival Kentucky.
"I really like Louisville," he said. "They've been doing well the past few years and I think the defense there is pretty good. They just offered me about a month ago and it seems like a great program.
"I really like (running back) coach Tony Alford and he says that they'd be able to develop me into a great defensive end," he said. "He said they really like my speed and passion for the game."
Previously, Forte mentioned Ohio State as a school he was hoping would offer, but now he admits the Buckeyes aren't recruiting him anymore. "They've had a lot of commitments this summer," he said.
But another Midwest school has offered and is recruiting him heavily. "Indiana is recruiting me a lot," Forte said. "I get a lot of mail from them.
"I've never been there but they recruited my teammate Orhian Johnson (2008 Ohio State signee) last year," he said. "Orhian actually visited them and had a lot of good things to say about them. He said it was a great campus and really liked it, so I decided to check them out too."
Forte, ranked as the No. 50 defensive end in the country by Scout.com, also has offers from Iowa, Troy, Cincinnati, Purdue, Hofstra and Florida International.
Boca Ciega High School opens their season on Friday, Sept. 5.
He says he wants to major in physical training and reports a 3.5 core GPA and an 18 ACT.