Five-star DE breaks down seven

Harrisburg (Pa.) Bishop McDevitt defensive end Noah Spence is one of the top players in the country and hands-down the top prospect in his home state. The 6-foot-4, 245-pounder has narrowed his list down to seven teams and the nation's No. 13 player breaks each down for us.

"I'm down to Penn State, Maryland, Florida, North Carolina, NC State, USC and Notre Dame," said Spence, ranked No. 3 overall at his position. "There's no order to them, those are just the seven I like the best."

Spence broke down each of the seven schools.

"At Penn State I really like the coaches, the tradition and I think there's early playing time there, they need defensive ends. Larry Johnson is my position coach and my recruiter and he's a great guy. I've been there obviously."

"Maryland has coach (Greg) Gattuso and I've talked to him a lot, I knew of him when he was at Pitt. He's also my position coach and my recruiter. I think they are an up-and-coming program and Randy Edsall is a laid-back coach. I've visited there and it's nice."

"Florida I like the coaches and I've talked to them a lot even though I haven't been down there. I think the position fits me, the way they use their defensive ends. I'm being recruited by all the coaches there, it's a group effort.

"North Carolina I've visited and it's a group effort recruiting me there as well. I think I could get early playing time there and it's close to a lot of my family in Raleigh. I don't know a lot about the new coach there Everett Withers but I know he was the defensive coordinator.

"With NC State my dad played there and everybody there is recruiting me. I've visited there and it's right where I have a lot of family and the coaches appear to be the type that provide discipline for their players. I also think I could play early there.

"USC has great tradition and they get people to the pros. I haven't visited out there yet but I hope to. Ed Orgeron is my recruiting coach and he's also my position coach and I like him, he's cool.

"Notre Dame has tradition and high academics and it's a group effort recruiting me there as well. I haven't visited there yet but hopefully I will. They want me as a linebacker in their defense and I feel I could play that. That's not an advantage or a disadvantage for them."

Next up for Spence is the football season and he really wants to focus on that.

"I want to take all my officials after the season if I can because I want to focus on my last season," he said. "I'd like to make my decision in January but I want to take all five officials as well so we'll see. I don't know of any schools I'll take an official visit to yet for sure, I haven't thought about that."

Spence had a dominant junior season at Bishop McDevitt High in 2010, recording 104 tackles and 22 sacks.