Blackwell has three early favorites
Victor Blackwell is one of the top wide receivers on the West Coast so his recruitment could go in many different directions but at this point the Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei recruit said he has a top three - and it's Cal, UCLA and Notre Dame.
Blackwell listed those favorites Sunday while at the Rivals.com Five-Star Academy at UCLA but he wasn't just being courteous to the Bruins. There is genuine interest in the program and how coach Rick Neuheisel, who was in attendance with his son, Jerry, plans to turn the program around.
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"Rick Neuheisel, I'm interested to see the new scheme he's going to have with the program and to see if he's going to switch it up," Blackwell said. "I'm excited. UCLA is close to home and family and friends can still come to support me."
Blackwell, a Rivals 250 to watch member, said he "really likes" Cal because of its combination of football and academics and that he enjoyed the vibe in Berkeley.
He, Mater Dei teammate Max Wittek and Los Angeles Crenshaw running back De'Anthony Thomas all visited Cal for its recent junior day and came away impressed. There is talk that those three want to play college football together.
The offer from Notre Dame is "huge" and the Irish will almost certainly stay on Blackwell's list no matter which other offers he receives.
Florida State, South Carolina, Oregon State, Washington and Tennessee have also offered but Blackwell seems quite intrigued by Notre Dame.
"That was a big-time offer," Blackwell said. "It's huge. Just the tradition and the program there is big. I didn't have much contact with them but then this big-time offer just popped up and I was like, OK, cool."
Southern Cal has not yet offered Blackwell but the Mater Dei standout said he expects the Trojans should come through soon. Whether that offer would significantly chance his recruitment is undetermined but Blackwell certainly knows what's going on at SC.
The Trojans just signed two five-star receivers in Markeith Ambles and Kyle Prater and five-star athlete Robert Woods. Plus, they just received a commitment from 2012 standout Jordan Payton, a wide receiver at Westlake Village (Calif.) Oaks Christian.
Those factors are all things Blackwell will consider as he works through his recruitment.
"I know I'm high on their recruiting list as well and I'll be one of the next few to be offered so I'm pretty high on that," Blackwell said of Southern Cal.
"I know they have a lot of receivers that just committed this last class so they're kind of slow in the receiving portion of that in recruiting and they just got a big-time sophomore that just committed. They're lagging for the offer because they just got all these big-time receivers."