Flavin touring West Coast schools

Pat Flavin is on the West Coast for the next few days touring Cal and UCLA as the three-star offensive tackle from Lisle (Ill.) Benet Academy tries to figure out which school is best for him.

Flavin, a 6-foot-7, 260-pound prospect, was set to visit with the Golden Bears on Monday but he got to campus this weekend and did a little tour for himself and really seemed to like the place early on.

He'll get a better feel for the school after meeting with the coaching staff but things are looking good for Cal at this point in his recruitment.

"I've enjoyed it so far," Flavin said. "The campus and the town, it's one of the nicer campuses I've visited. I've gotten a pretty good idea of what it would be like coming in.

"They're doing a lot of construction on the stadium and their facilities. I'd be interested to see what they have exactly planned for what they're going to do with that. I've had a chance to meet with coach (Steve) Marshall and coach (Jeff) Genyk who recruits my area and I've enjoyed talking to them. Right now I'd say it's a good impression. I'm looking forward to walking around some more and seeing what else is here."

After his visit in Berkeley, Flavin plans to travel down to UCLA to meet with coach Rick Neuheisel and offensive line coach Bob Palcic. Flavin, rated No. 29 at offensive tackle and seventh in the Illinois state rankings by Rivals.com, has already been to Westwood once but is back to see if the Bruins could be the right fit.

"UCLA is going to be on Tuesday and that was more spur of the moment," Flavin said. "I figured as long as I've going to be out here I'd go down there. My mom hasn't seen it yet so I wanted to give her a chance to see it and see coach Palcic and coach Neuheisel again.

"I've been high on them for a while. I want to get more comfortable with the distance and the staff so I'm looking forward to that as well."

Flavin and his father visited for UCLA's spring game in April and got a campus tour. They were impressed with everything they saw but with so many options, Flavin wanted to make a return trip just to make sure the Bruins can offer everything he wants. It seems like an incredibly appealing place to Flavin at this point.

"I want to get more comfortable with it and see if it's a place I can see myself," Flavin said. "Being right there in Westwood and Los Angeles is awesome. It opens up a lot of opportunities. Right off the bat it's a school everybody has to look at so I'm looking forward to getting down there again and seeing them."

Flavin plans to visit Boston College early next week for its first practice. There were plans to make a commitment before the season started but Flavin said that might be an outside shot at best since so many programs are still in the running.