Clay races toward top

Long Beach (Calif.) Poly receiver Kaelin Clay is fast.

Really fast.

The 5-foot-9, 167-pounder is one of the best two-sport athletes in California, dominating on the football field as a four-star prospect that ranks in the Rivals250 and one of the 200-meter specialists on the track.

As a junior in Poly's grind-it-out offensive attack, Clay only had 16 receptions, but he dominated almost every time he touched the ball with a 29.4 yard average. This spring in track he's already qualified for the CIF regional in the 100 and 200 with a best time of 21.3 seconds in the 200.

"I'm a football guy running track," Clay, who ranks as the nation's No. 22 receiver, said. "I only started to run track last year. As far as I'm concerned, I'm more of an athlete than anything. I like baseball, too. I wanted to play baseball this spring, but I couldn't' because of track."

On the football field, Clay said he's ready to get more opportunities to make big plays as a senior. Spring practices are just getting underway at Poly, and he hopes the Jackrabbits find a way to get him the ball a little more this season. But he also knows the Poly tradition of running the football and running it a lot will still be the focus.

"We have a good chance to air it out a little more this year," Clay said. "Because of the Poly running tradition, I don't have all the big stats like some of the other guys do, but I'm confident in my abilities and look forward to getting to showcase my game a little more this season. I'm thinking we're going to definitely air it out a little bit more this fall, but I haven't seen the playbook quite yet."

While most highly ranked players are racking up the offers, Clay has yet to officially pick up his first one. He said he attributes a lot of it to the fact that he's heavily involved with track now and his cell phone has been out of commission throughout the entire spring evaluation process.

"At times when I see other people on Rivals and they have offers and I don't, it gets frustrating," Clay said. "I sometimes think to myself, I wish I could have them. But my coach is telling me it's only a matter of time, and there have been plenty of schools that have been by my school to ask about me.

"People like LSU, San Diego State, Oregon, Oregon State, UCLA, Hawaii and others are all very interested in me. I've talked to the UCLA coaches about doing both football and track. They asked me if I minded doing both, and I don't."

Clay said he's not going to let the recruiting process overwhelm him.

"It's just fun even being looked at," Clay said. "To get a scholarship offer would be a blessing. It's just fun to be recruited, and I know something good is just right around the corner for me.

"I'm not rushing into anything. My options are open. I don't want to rush into a decision, commit somewhere and then a better offer comes along. I don't want to have to break my word. I just want to let things play out and see what happens."