Florida OLs stock skyrockets

The scholarship offers continue to roll in for one of the Sunshine State’s top offensive linemen.

Three-star Sarasota (Fla.) Booker guard Dumaka Atkins may be positioning himself to shoot up the rankings with the type of attention he’s been receiving of late.

“I’ve got a bunch of offers now,” he said. “I hope I can remember them all, but the main ones are Florida State, Florida, LSU, Auburn, Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Tulane, South Carolina, North Carolina, N.C. State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Louisville, Southern Cal, USF, UCF, Iowa and Ole Miss.”

Atkins (6-4, 280, 4.9) said he’s also drawn recent calls from Ohio State, Florida State, Louisville, Southern Cal and South Carolina.

With such a lengthy list of major offers, are any schools starting to distinguish themselves as favorites?

“Right now it’s Florida State, Ohio State, Michigan, Southern Cal and USF,” he said.

Breaking down the favorites, Atkins offered the following:

“Florida State has been real good with me the whole time. I like their coaches. They’re real direct with me. They don’t beat around the bush. They just came right out and told me how much they want me. I like their tradition, too. Winning is important to me. I’ve got to go somewhere that they’re going to be winning.

“Ohio State is the national champs, so you can’t win much more than that. They’re going strong again this year, too. I know they’ve had some close games, but that doesn’t matter. The only thing that’s important is whether you win or not, and they keep winning. I like the way they always have good linemen.

“Michigan is another school that produces a bunch of linemen. They seem to have a lot of guys in the NFL, so you can tell they develop their players.

“Southern Cal interests me because they’re the only school from that part of the country that has contacted me. And the stay in touch quite a bit with calls and letters. I’m just kind of intrigued that they want me so much. I may have to go check them out. If I want to get away from here and try something different, that could be interesting.

“USF is a program on the rise. I think they’re building something big, and their coaches say I could be a special part of that. They’ve been on me for a long time, and I like the way they’ve treated me.”

Atkins said he hasn’t made any visits thus far. He hopes to attend the Florida State-Miami and Florida-Florida State games later this season.

Through three games, he has helped lead Booker to a 3-0 record and the No. 9 ranking in Class 3A. He has graded out at over 90 percent and helped pave the way for tailback Terrance Jones to gain a whopping 700 yards.

“He had 300 yards our last game,” Atkins said. “So our O-Line has been doing a great job. He’s a great player, but he always gives us a bunch of credit.”

Academically, Atkins maintains a 2.8 GPA and has scored a 940 on the SAT.