2011 FL lineman quickly lands two offers

Lakeland (Fla.) Lake Gibson offensive tackle Errin Joe has had some good guidance in his life. His father, Ernest Joe spent years coaching at Kathleen High School where he coached talents like Ray Lewis. Since then, he has moved on to mentoring students from the administrative side of things as a high school principle.

Mr. Joe will now have the task ahead of him of mentoring his son through the recruiting process, a process that will likely be characterized with loads of opportunity for the 6-4, 285-pound lineman. Already the junior has picked up two official scholarship offers.

"I have offers from Miami and Iowa State," Joe said. "The Miami offer came in the first day, on Sept. 1 and then two days later Iowa State came and offered a full scholarship. I was actually a little in awe. I didn't have any words. I saw it and I said that this is an opportunity and I just have to work hard and get better."

Located in the middle of the state in Lakeland, Joe has not been pulled towards any particular in-state program but was thrilled to get the offer from the Hurricanes.

"Actually I have family members that have gone everywhere in Florida," he said. "I grew up loving all of the Florida schools. I love watching them and saw all of the Florida schools games."

Outside of his first two offers, Joe has several other major programs that have shown serious interest. After taking in the camp circuit this summer, Joe caught the eyes of a number of coaches that have stayed in contact.

"I sent out a lot of film this year and I went to four camps this summer," he said. "I went to the University of Georgia camp, the Miami camp, went to the Alabama one-day big man camp and then ended up at Florida State. It was great. I made a lot of new friends and there was a lot of good competition and hard work. It let me know how the competition is out there."

Fresh off of his summer performances, Joe lists Alabama, Georgia, Florida State, Auburn, Nebraska and West Virginia as the schools that have shown him the most interest outside of his two offers.

However, currently Joe is more focused on his team's 2-1 start than he is on recruiting. More comfortable in his role as a junior, Joe is off to a dominating start on the offensive line.

"I knew that after last year that I'd have to step up," he said. "I knew that there'd be a little less pressure since I was a sophomore and didn't know exactly what I was doing. Now I've grown up and now I know what I'm doing."

The strong start is the result of some hard work in the offseason.

"We as a team had a lot of practices in the offseason, weight lifting, working on fundamentals to get us better," he said. "Two weeks after the season ended the O-line, we were back running, working out after school, doing the little things trying to get our feet and get ready for the season."

Those little things are what have made a big impression on college coaches and under the watchful eye of his father, Joe will be a continued name to watch on the recruiting trail.