Barrs recruitment continues steady pace

Todd Barr is one of the hottest names on the West Coast and rightfully so because the Lakewood, Calif., defensive end has outstanding film and he proved Sunday at the Los Angeles Nike Camp that he's nearly unstoppable during one-on-one drills.

The day before working out at the Nike Camp, Barr visited UCLA for its spring game and the Bruins are definitely in the running for his services. Not only did he enjoy the intensity he saw during the scrimmage but he's grown to like the coaching staff as well, a key in his recruitment.

"I liked the environment of everything," Barr said. "Everybody seemed like they were fired up to play football. The coaches were really in-tune to the scrimmage. Even though it was just a scrimmage they treated it like it was a real game and that's important because you practice like you play. If you want to win the Pac-10 championship you have to put in the extra work.

"They're real good. They're close to home and that's going to play a big part especially with my mom wanting to come to most of my games. They're really high. I'm not going to lie. I like the whole defensive staff a lot and especially coach (Rick) Neuheisel, he's a great guy."

Nebraska, Tennessee and Duke are the three latest offers for Barr, a 6-foot-3, 265-pound recruit who also has Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Oregon, Stanford, Washington and many other top programs involved. Both the Cornhuskers and Volunteers stand out as his recruitment continues.

"I get mail from them occasionally and then my coach said you have an offer from Nebraska," Barr said. "I said wow and he said to be a Cornhusker that's a big thing. Tennessee I got mail from them occasionally and they liked my film and the coach said to offer me as soon as he saw it. I was happy to hear that."

Southern Cal has not offered yet but that might happen this spring. Barr said he has been in close contact with defensive line coach Ed Orgeron, who is expected to come to Lakewood in a few weeks to watch him work out.

"Coach O said he's going to come out to a few of my spring practices, see how I practice actually hands-on and how I can get after it," Barr said. "Maybe I can get the offer after that. It's not necessarily crucial. I have a lot of schools on me, I'm very blessed where I am now, but SC would make the whole process of choosing a school that much harder."

There is no timetable on when Barr will commit but he said he'd like to formulate a top five sometime this summer. Barr said he doesn't have any specific schools that will make the cut but a general feeling is that the Pac-10 teams are in good shape.

"When I get the chance to sit down with my parents, my position coach and my head coach, I'm going to talk about it and then I'll make the decision on what I'm going to do," Barr said. "I'm going to keep it kind of open."