Chestnut not cracking down on recruiting
Without playing a varsity down, Houston Cypress Ridge cornerback Nick Chestnut has five scholarship offers to date.
Chestnut, 5-foot-11 and 169 pounds, enters his senior season with offers much to the credit of his coach, who sent out film on his Division I prospects.
Advertisement
Linebacker Chad Lindsey has already committed to Texas A&M, and Chestnut has offers from Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, Syracuse, Arizona State and Stanford – so coach Gary Thiebaud must be a heck of a marketer.
Cy Ridge has had no exposure because this is the first season the three-year-old school will field a varsity team.
“I’m optimistic about our first varsity season,” Chestnut says. “We have a lot of tools on offense and defense and I think we will be competitive.”
Chestnut was named to the first-team all-district squad and newcomer of the year by the district last season, while playing defensive back, wide receiver and quarterback for the junior varsity team.
Chestnut lists his current top five as Syracuse, Stanford, Wisconsin, Arizona State and Texas A&M. His sister currently attends Syracuse University. He contends that he will not make his decision until after the football season and a few visits.
“I’d really like to play out of state,” he said. “I think it helps you to become independent. Schools are recruiting me as a safety, cornerback and receiver. Only Stanford is recruiting me for basketball and football.”
That’s right, Chestnut was also one of his district leading scorers at off guard, averaging 20 points, four assists and four steals per season. He is playing AAU basketball this summer, while his seven-on-seven football team’s season has ended.
He’s academically qualified after scoring a 1,060 on his SAT and is the nephew of Pittsburgh Steeler defensive back Willie Williams.