Pittsburgh near the top for fast-rising Kentucky TE Jake Paulson

The Latest: After working his way across the country to workout at schools as part of a bus tour, Kentucky tight end Jake Paulson suddenly finds himself as a hot commodity in the recruiting world. Several schools have already joined his offer list and programs like Pittsburgh and Purdue are making the hardest push for his commitment at the moment. Rivals.com caught up with Paulson to talk about his recent experience at Pitt and to talk about where the Panthers stand with him at the moment.

In His Words: "Pitt is really showing a lot of interest right now. They just got a brand new offense so they’re really trying to use their tight ends and they don’t have a ton of guys at that position so I would really be able to come in a play earlier. I like the new style of offense they have. I can catch but I’m not afraid to block either. They say they would throw me the ball a lot. I went up there a couple of weeks ago but so I probably won't be back up there until the fall for a game but I really enjoyed it there. They had their coaching staff come out and I went with a few of their coaches and saw campus and everything. They showed me a lot of love. I also got to spend a lot of time with the tight end coach and that’s really important because you spend all your time with your position coach. If you get a bad vibe from them when you first meet them or if they’re not someone you get along with then it's going to be tough to go to that school."

Rivals Reaction: Right now it appears that Pitt is the team to beat, the question is, can they reel in Paulson before more competition enters the fray? Schools like Kentucky, Louisville, Penn State, Arkansas and Florida are all taking a longer look at Paulson and he figures to be busy in July trying to add to his offer list. As of now, Paulson said he plans on staying patient and weighing his options further before making a decision.