Alabama defender has four on top

The options are there for Birmingham (Ala.) John Carroll defensive end Kameron Wood. Over the course of the spring Wood has accrued offers from the likes of Arkansas, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Memphis and Southern Miss. This week in particular has been a big one for Wood with three major offers since Sunday.

"Southern Miss was Sunday, Arkansas came on Tuesday and then Ole Miss yesterday," Wood said. "I got a few small schools too in Troy, UAB and Memphis all came and offered.

"Arkansas and Ole Miss are SEC schools and that's the conference that I really want to play in. Arkansas, the thing about them, I talk to the coach and he wants me at linebacker. Ole Miss hasn't talked much about me as a palyer. I'm going to a couple of camps and going to visit Ole Miss and I'll go from there."

With the addition of the two most recent SEC offers in Ole Miss and Arkansas, Wood has put together a top four among his nine offers.

"So far it's Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss and Arkansas in my top four," he said. "I'm going to have a decision by the summer."

Though at this point it looks as though Wood's decision may come down to his four current SEC offers, there is an x-factor involved. Both Auburn and Alabama have shown significant interest in the long 6-foot-4, 220-pounder though neither have issued a scholarship offer. If a tender were to come from either of the in-state programs, that may have a serious impact on his list of favorites.

This summer could be big in securing that offer. Wood will be camping at Auburn on June 10-11. He follows that up with a camp at Mississippi State on the 15-16th and then camps in Tuscaloosa a few days later.

"Alabama and Auburn are telling me that they want to see me at camp," he said. "Coach Sal Sunseri said he likes me at outside linebacker. I'm probably going to camp and see if I get the offer and if I get the offer from them then I'll look at them but if not, it'll be ok."

College position is another factor that Wood is keeping in mind. Other than his freshman year, Wood has been a mainstay at defensive end for his high school. Recently though, Wood was a standout at the Tuscaloosa Nike Camp as an outside linebacker and plans on playing the linebacker position as a senior. Several programs love his upside at linebacker and Wood is warming up to it as well.

"Last year I played mainly defensive end and I just rushed the quarterback but now I'm making a transition to linebacker so I have to see who's coming in and going out and see everything that's going on. It's not as easy as defensive end but it has more responsibility.

That responsibility is exactly what Wood is looking to embrace.

"I like a challenge, especially in football," he said. "It's fun to not just be one-sided and do one thing. It's fun to be down in the trenches but as far as being the leader on the team, that's the linebacker so that's what I want to be."