Carson (Calif.) tight end Morrell Presley, the nation’s top-ranked tight end, took his first official visit this weekend, taking a trip to UCLA. A commit to USC since the spring of 2007, Presley visited UCLA when they hosted the Trojans.
“Morrell did official over at UCLA this weekend,” said his dad, Steven Hawkins. “They offered him, and have been recruiting him hard and have been wanting him to play for them. He did not commit to UCLA. Now, is he seriously considering them? Yes. He’s real impressed with Rick (Neuheisel) and the coaches over at UCLA. But he hasn’t switched his commitment at all. Everything is real status quo. He’s committed to SC.”
On Monday night, Presley had USC head coach Pete Carroll in for an in-home visit along with assistants Ken Norton and Brennan Carroll. This weekend, Presley will take an official visit to USC.
“He’s officially tripping with USC this weekend. We met with Coach Carroll and Coach Norton and Brennan Carroll. He’ll go over there to USC this weekend and see how everything feels and he’ll go from there. He knows he’s not going to leave California. I told him don’t waste other schools time if you’re not going to leave California. I don’t think he’s going to take any out of state trips. In fact, I’m sure he’s not going to,” said Hawkins.
So now Presley will take the visit to USC, then take some time following to sort his thoughts out.
“In the next couple of weeks, we’ll see what happens. He needs to think this whole thing over and make sure he goes over all the pros and cons,” said Hawkins.
A five-star prospect by Scout.com, Presley will be playing in the UnderArmour All-America Game in Orlando next month. Earlier this year, he was named the MVP of the UnderArmour/Scout.com Combine in Los Angeles.
Lynwood (Wash.) two-way prospect Geoff Meinken had a roller-coaster day on Tuesday.
The three-star prospect, who was committed to Washington State, decommitted from the Cougars. That came on the heels of him receiving an admittance letter intoStanford. Upon hearing the news of his admission, Meinken made the call that changed his recruitment.
“I got admitted to Stanford so I called the Washington State coaches and decommitted and then committed to Stanford,” said Meinken. “I was pretty excited about getting into Stanford but it was pretty tough telling the Washington State coaches. It wasn’t something I was looking forward to.”
Once that conversation concluded, though, Meinken was thrilled with the development.
“Coach (Lance) Anderson gave me the news that I was admitted. I called Coach (Jim) Harbaugh, who happened to be on a recruiting visit in New Jersey, and talked to him for a while and committed to him. He was fired up and was pretty excited. He’s a great guy and a great coach.”
Milpitas (Calif.) linebacker Steven Fanua had some good options to play around the West, but ultimately decided to stay close to home and play for Cal, committing over the weekend.
"Being close by was one of my big reasons for committing there," said Fanua. "They were always one of my top schools and I just wanted to be sure after I took my visit."
In Fanua, the Bears are getting one of the more productive tacklers in the state, with nearly 350 tackles in the past two seasons.
"Coach (Jeff) Tedford told me on my visit that they'd like me to come in and play right away, so I'm just going to work hard and do what I can to play early," said Fanua.
It's the second year in a row that Cal has landed a Milpitas prospect, joining freshman, and close friend Charles Satchell-Germany at Cal. Fanua is the ninth player in the class of 2009 to publicly commit to Cal, and the second Bay Area prospect, along with San Francisco (Calif.) Sacred Heart Cathedral running back Dasarte Yarnway.
“I just felt like (Monday) was right, it felt right to commit to Nebraska," Middleton told BigRedReport.com.
Middleton committed to secondary coach Marvin Sanders.
"I said coach I want to commit to Nebraska. He sounded just as excited as I was. We both started hollering and screaming on the phone together, it was hard to understand each other. I like coach Sanders and look forward to playing for him," said Middleton to BigRedReport.com.
Middleton is the fifth California native to commit to Nebraska in the class of 2009.
“I have always wanted to play in the Big 12 even since I was little. Everybody else around here grew up wanting to play in the Pac 10, but I always dreamed about playing in the Big 12 It’s a great conference with a lot of great players. Nebraska is known for having a wonderful program and for winning. There are a lot of big rivalries in that conference that would be fun to play with," he told BigRedReport.com.
Corona (Calif.) Santiago offensive lineman Jordan Johnson (6-6, 308) became the third player from the Sharks to make a college commitment.
Johnson committed to Idaho, joining teammates Sean Martin (Oregon State) and Marlion Barnett (Washington) in verballing.
“I committed to Coach Smith and Coach Finn, the O-Line coach,” said Johnson. “They are graduating almost all of their lineman in the next two years so I will be able to play quickly."
Johnson also keyed their academics in choosing the Vandals.
“They have a great business program at Idaho,” said Johnson. “I am going up there this weekend (for an official visit) so it should be fun."
Other News and Notes from out West
-San Clemente (Calif.) linebacker Dylan Reda officially visited SMU last
weekend and has set a trip for Ohio on January 9th.
-Sammamish (Wash.) Skyline
defensive tackle was offered by Idaho State as was West Hills (Calif.) Chaminade
receiver Ronald McCrory.
-Harbor City (Calif.) Narbonne quarterback Josh Moten
was offered by Colorado as an athlete.
-Gardena (Calif.) Serra defensive tackle Siona Tuihalamaka was offered by
Arizona State and Nebraska.
-San Leandro (Calif.) offensive tackle Charles Leno added offers from Boise State and San Jose State.
Scout.com Southwest Recruiting Analyst Jason
Jewell & Northwest Recruiting Analyst Chris Fetters contributed to this report