Austin likes Miami, ready for FSU

Washington (D.C.) Coolidge defensive tackle Marvin Austin recently took an unofficial visit to Miami and is heading down to Tallahassee to check out the Florida State Seminoles this weekend. Austin updates us on his recruiting and a possible change of high schools.

"I liked Miami a lot, it was a great," said the 6-foot-2, 291-pounder who is ranked as the No. 2 player in the nation. "I fit in very well and I liked the coaches. I spent time with coach Mosely and coach Shannon and we talked about how they'd put me in position to make plays.

"Miami was very late to offer me, but it's all good now. The visit made up ground for the late offer. I knew they had some coaching changes and were still adjusting."

Austin liked the area.

"It reminded me of D.C. a bit except there were Lamborghinis rolling down the street and you don't see that back home. I like the city area and that it's not a college town. I also got to meet some players like Brandon Meriweather and they were cool. We just talked about the school and how they liked it there."

Next up for Austin is an unofficial trip to Florida State this weekend.

"I'm looking forward to it," he said. "I want to see what the coaches are about, how I fit in and meet some of the players and see how they are. I also want to compare Miami and FSU and see what I like about each."

Austin named his final 10 recently. Has anything changed in the last couple of weeks?

"No, my top 10 is still the same," he said. "All the teams on my list are equal. These visits help me gather information about schools and that's important for when I try to decide what official visits I'll take. I'm still hoping to get out to Southern Cal this summer if I can but that's about it."

Austin admitted that one school did take a bit of a hit on his list recently.

"I spoke to Melvin Alaeze this week about the whole Maryland thing and it kind of hurts Maryland that he won't be there," he said. "He would have helped me if I went there by keeping double teams off me and by being someone I can learn things from on the field. Maryland is still in my top 10, but I'm disappointed he won't be there."

Austin is also making a school change.

"I'll be playing at Ballou High School next year," he said. "A lot of my teammates will probably go as well. One of our assistant coaches at Coolidge, Todd Amis, got hired over there and he's a great guy so we're following him. Our head coach did some stuff I didn't like, but I won't go into it."