Could Mascarenas decide soon

Mission Viejo (Calif.) defensive back Alex Mascarenas has been one of the state's top defensive backs since his sophomore season. The athlete will take a few unofficial visits over Spring Break and could make his college choice before the end of the month.

Mascarenas, 5-10, 175 pounds burst on to the scene as a sophomore when he picked off eight passes and earned all-state underclass honors. Diablo coach Bob Johnson told us at the time that Mascarenas was the best athlete he has ever coached and continues to feel the same way now.

"He's a tremendous talent," Johnson said. "He can do it all and I think it's going to be interesting to see where he ends up playing in college. He plays corner now but could easily play safety and some schools even like him at receiver because he has great hands.

"He's definitely fast enough to play corner but I really like him as a safety because he has such good instincts and I think he the frame to play at about 195 pounds or so in a few years."

On the recruiting front, Mascarenas picked up offers from Colorado and Utah following his sophomore season and has since been joined by UCLA and Arizona.

"He has more than that but I really don't remember all of them to be honest. Alex isn't one of those kids who wants to see how many offers he can rack up. He has a small list of schools and those are the ones he's really concerned with.

"He went to UCLA's Junior Day last week and they offered him there. Arizona has offered and both Cal and Arizona State told them they want to offer him this week. Those are his top four schools and really the only schools he's looking at right now.

"We have Spring Break next week and he's going to visit Arizona and ASU. I know he wants to commit early and he could do something by the end of the month or early in April.

"Right now, I think UCLA looks good. He had a great time on the visit there and I really like Rick (Neuheisal) and Norm (Chow) a lot. Those are two great guys and great coaches and I think they have the personality, especially Rick, to really compete with Pete (Carroll) for players for the first time in a long time."