Compton College LB has options
Compton College has a slew of athletes every year that send the scouts into a tiff racing to get them into town for a visit. This year is no exception and linebacker/defensive end Anthony Atkins is drawing interest from some of the top programs in the country.
Atkins has an offer from the University of Washington with a trip in the works and will schedule a trip to Nebraska in the near future. Arizona State, Arizona and USC have also expressed interest in Atkins, who says he will be ready to transfer in December.
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"I'm between Washington and Nebraska right now," said Atkins. "I'm a USC fan, but I like the defensive schemes at those other two schools."
The 6-foot-3, 255-pound Atkins recently ran the 40-yard dash in 4.62 seconds for scouts. He also benched 31 repetitions of 225 pounds during the workout.
Atkins graduated from Long Beach Jordan High School in 2000 and had offers from Oregon and Oregon State as a senior as well as interest from UCLA and Arizona. Atkins, however, chose to take some years off from football in order to care for his ailing grandfather.
"I was going to go to Long Beach City in 2001, but I had to go to work," said Atkins. "Then my mentor coach Ward came and asked me to play at Compton last year."
Cornell Ward was the former coach at Compton College before this season when Angelo Jackson took over the program.
Arizona State has also been busy recruiting Atkins, but not as a linebacker but rather a defensive end.
"I've talked to ASU like three or four times, but they want me to play defensive end," said Atkins. "I don't have any problems with that, I'll play anything."
When pressed for a favorite Atkins listed Washington.
"Being Pac-10, it's fairly local and not too far," said Atkins. "The coaches' defensive mindset is aggressive, which I like."