Coaches are finding Indiana junior

Pierre Aka has played football in Texas and the Midwest. He does not see a big talent difference between those two areas, but he does see a difference in the way colleges recruit the different regions. Still, Aka has seen several coaching staffs through his school in the last month.

"I think that it is done a whole different way, recruiting-wise, here," Aka said. "The competition is about the same as Texas, but people don't tend to respect it as much."

Aka transferred to Indianapolis (Ind.) Pike last semester after spending the first two years of his high school career at Arlington (Tex.) Bowie, but college coaches have still been able to find the 6-4, 250-pound prospect. He has seen coaches from Iowa, Kentucky, Cincinnati, Stanford and Michigan State through Pike in the last month and feels the most love is coming from the Hawkeyes at this stage of the process.

"I have a junior day for the 16th of January set up there," Aka said. "I went there for their game against Michigan State. They made me feel like I have been there for awhile. I was real comfortable there and I really like the atmosphere."

Aka does not have any other visits set up outside of next month's trip to Iowa City, but he does plan to get around to several schools during the course of the recruiting process.

"This summer I might go down to LSU, back to Iowa and I'll make the decision on what other schools when they come in. I just want to play college ball; it doesn't matter how far it is. I'll look more at how the schools are academically."

Aka is a strong student in the classroom, carrying a 3.4 GPA. He used his first season at Pike High to get accustomed to his surroundings and played mostly tight end, and a little on defense. Schools are looking at him for both sides of the football in college.

"A lot of them are saying defensive end. Some are saying tight end, but most see me on defense," Aka said. "I think I would make a great defensive end at the next level. This year I played tight end and a lot of my coaches told me I could be a great tackle, but I would really prefer to play defensive end at the next level."