Deehan down to four

Although he doesn't get anywhere near the recognition of Orange Lutheran (Calif.) tight end Blake Ayles, Poway's (Calif.) Ryan Deehan can make a strong claim to being the top tight end in the West. After a dominating MVP performance at the recent Adidas 7 on 7 passing tournament at UCLA last weekend, Deehan showed he takes a back seat to nobody in the region.

We've been high on Deehan for awhile but his stock continues to climb in our eyes. He was the top tight end we saw at the NorCal NIKE Camp and he has had several outstanding showings at multiple passing tournaments this summer.

Poway knocked off Crespi in the championship game at UCLA last weekend with Deehan taking home MVP honors.

"That kid was incredible," Crespi coach Jeremiah Ross said. "Deehan is a big time player and we couldn't do anything to slow him down, he made every play for them."

At 6-5, 235 pounds, Deehan is a big, physical kid with hands and toughness. He doesn't shy away from contact and actually seems to relish it when running his routes.

On the recruiting front, Deehan just set up his first official visit this week and said he has four schools he's currently considering.

"I'm going to visit Colorado (Sept. 15) when they play Florida State," Deehan said. "That's the only visit I have set up so far. I'm definitely going to visit Arizona State and Washington and there is a good chance I'll visit Oregon as well. Those are the four schools I'm currently looking at.

"I'm going to try and take all my visits in September and October and then commit somewhere during the season. We have a Thursday game September 20 so I'm going to try and visit one of the Pac 10 schools that weekend and hopefully one of them has a home game."

Noticeably missing from Deehan's list of favorites is UCLA, who led by a pretty solid margin back when we talked to him in May.

"I know they have a commitment from someone and I haven't heard from them since," Deehan said. "To be honest though, they were dropping on my list before then because everyone time we talked, they tried to pressure me about committing and I told them I wanted to take all my trips before committing anywhere. That seemed to bother them for whatever reason.

"This is a huge decision and I don't want to rush anything. I'm open to all four of these schools and just looking for the best fit. I want a good education, a good team and a place where I'll fit in well socially. When I find that, that's when I'll make my decision."