Brazinski heavily weighing academics

Most high school football prospects consider academics to some degree when making their decisions, but some seem to take them more seriously than others.

Somerville (N.J.) Immaculata offensive lineman Mark Brazinski is somewhat of a rare breed in the recruiting world. For starters, he projects as a center and relatively few prospects fit that mold coming out of high school. Secondly, he's a four-star prospect that appears to be seriously considering a few Ivy League schools, in addition to the schools you hear about more regularly on the college football scene.

The 6-foot-3, 297-pound prospect has been spending some time on the defensive line recently for Immaculata and so far the experiment has been a success. The last two games he has been in the front four's rotation and has recorded a sack, two more tackles for loss and two forced fumbles.

Despite that, he knows his future is on offense. With a 3.6 grade point average, academics are going to be a big factor in whatever decision he makes.

"Recently I've been talking to the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, Princeton, North Carolina and Boston College," he said. "Recently Cornell just threw their hat into the ring.

"Right now I would say they're basically all even. I'm just in the process of working it all out and finding out where I would fit in best."

Brazinski has scheduled an official visit to North Carolina for the weekend of their game against Boston College. He will have a chance to check out both teams and get a feel for what life is like in Chapel Hill.

"I'm still planning to take an official visit to Boston College," he continued. "That one is still in the works.

"I definitely want to take my time with all of this. Right now I just want to make sure I get all of my officials in and look over my options, so there is no set time table for a decision."

Brazinski is rated the No. 6 center in the nation.