Adjepong prepares to narrow list

With 20 offers, defensive end Jason Adjepong out of Carteret, N.J. has had plenty of schools stopping by during the evaluation period. What has been the 6-foot-3, 248-pounder's impressions of the last month?

"It's going real good, a lot of coaches have been in and it's hectic," he said. "My coach does a good job giving me as much as I can handle and not overwhelming me. I know Miami, Maryland, Ohio State, Nebraska, Penn State, Ole Miss, Virginia, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina and more have been in.

"I've talked to a lot of coaches on the phone and most that have offered told me I'm their number one guy on the defensive line. I've talked to most of the head coaches too and they are all really cool guys.

"I've been impressed by some coaches particularly including coach Schiano from Rutgers, coach Groh from Virginia, coach Rogers from Virginia Tech, coach Zook from Illinois, coach Hand from West Virginia, coach Wilson from Iowa, coach Hargreaves from Miami and there's definitely more.

"A lot of these coaches have expressed a lot of interest in me and they keep in touch more and are on me more through e-mail. I've made bonds with a lot of them."

It's no surprise schools across the country are showing interest as Adjepong posted 87 tackles and 12 sacks last year. He went on to be named all-state, all-group, all-conference, all-area, all-county and all-division.

The lineman hasn't picked up any new offers recently, but is expecting a couple more in the coming weeks. By mid-June he also plans to set his official list of favorites.

"I'm going to wait until a couple weeks into June and then start to narrow my list down because I know there are going to be schools that come in late," he said. "I think those that are late may have a slimmer chance of landing me because they are not as responsive to me and willing to give the offer out to me."

This summer Adjepong plans to take unofficial visits to Virginia Tech on June 10th, Virginia on June 25th as well as Syracuse and Boston College. The lineman is also considering taking a visit to Connecticut along with a trip down South perhaps.

Adjepong has also just finished up the track season.

"Our track team is not that good, but this year I focused strictly on running," he said. "I definitely saw improvement as I ran the 100 and 200 meters. My best times were 11.9 in the 100 and 24.9 in the 200. It's definitely helped my football as it has helped with my acceleration, strength and hopefully it'll help with my ability to track down more running backs and quarterbacks this year."

As for a decision, the lineman says it could be anywhere from the beginning to the end of the season.

"It's hard to say right now. It just depends how much I get my list down to by the middle of June," he said. "If I get it down to a good number, I can go from there and make a decision in August or sooner, but that's still too hard to say right now."

Finally, are there any schools that Adjepong plans to take an official visit to?

"That's hard to say right now, but if there was anybody it would be Rutgers," he said. "I'd want to go to them just because they were the number one school to start recruiting and offer me. They showed the most confidence in me and one of my teammates went there, so I have a tight bond with the team and coaches."