Ayers up to five offers
Los Angeles (Calif.) Verbum Dei defensive end Akeem Ayers loved every minute of the time he spent at last weekend's Rivals.com Junior Day at Anaheim Servite. But life is already grand for the 6-foot-2, 214-pounder.
Ayers is one of the top defensive ends in California, and his stock continues to soar through the roof. With scholarship offers already on the table from Arizona, San Diego State, Oregon, Nebraska and Ole Miss, Ayers is moving up the charts and schools from coast-to-coast are showing him the love.
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"Nebraska, Oregon, UCLA, and Arizona have been sending me mail lately," he said. "There are a few more schools, too, but those are the ones I remember off the top of my head. I haven't gotten down to narrowing the list at all yet, though. There are still a lot of schools I'm interested in.
"I'm up to five offers now. I have one from Arizona, Oregon, Nebraska, San Diego State and Ole Miss. They're all written offers. I've had one from Ole Miss for a while now, and I got one from Oregon last week and Nebraska sent me one yesterday or the day before."
Ayers, who was an all-CIF selection last season after racking up 18 sacks, says he's not ready to name a clear cut leader at this point, but a few teams have caught his attention.
"I grew up a little bit of a UCLA fan," he said. "Most of my family went to UCLA, so I kind of got into them. My family really isn't trying to get me to go there. They want it to be my decision, but they have talked about how great it would be for me to go there.
"I have a lot of interest in Nebraska. I just like their defense and the way they run it. I think I can play defense there and they always have a pretty good one. That's probably the only official visit I know I'm going to take."
But still don't expect a rushed decision.
"I'm going to take my time," he said. "I'll take all my visits and see where I'm at after I take them all. I don't expect to have a decision until after my senior season, but who knows what could happen.
"I'll look at academics first and then probably how long it would take for me to get on the field and play. I'll look at the depth chart and see where I can fit in early, too. Those will probably be the two main things."
Ayers, who also caught 15 passes for 357 yards and five touchdowns said he will be at the April 15 NIKE Training Camp at Southern Cal.