As the recruiting game speeds up, it is important to get in early on the top prospects in the country. Two of those top prospects in the country for the class of 2011 clearly reside at Baton Rouge (La.) Redemptorist High School and Florida State has made it clear that it wants in on them. On Wednesday offensive tackle La'El Collins and running back Jeremy Hill picked up verbal offers from the Seminoles to add to their early lists.
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For Hill, Florida State is his second offer, joining the University of Tennessee. For Collins, Florida State joins Tennessee, Oklahoma State, Florida and Florida State.
"I was surprised," Hill said of his reaction. "I was pretty happy. I didn't really expect it. I'm supposed to be heading up there in a couple weeks to check out the campus. I think on the 13th so I'm excited."
Following news of the offer, Hill called head coach in waiting Jimbo Fisher to talk.
"I talked to Coach Fisher and he was pretty excited," said the 6-foot-2, 210-pounder. "It was an honor. He was just talking about him and talking about Coach Bowden and stuff. It was just that much more exciting to me. I'm just looking forward to finding out more."
As a football fan, Hill is familiar with the tradition of the Florida State program as well as the tradition of its biggest rivalry.
"I follow them a lot," he said of the Seminoles. "I've been watching the whole Florida State-Miami rivalry and stuff since I was a kid."
Recently, Hill and Collins took part in the NUC Ultimate 100 combine in Atlanta where Hill was one of the top performers in attendance at running back and Collins was one of the top linemen in attendance. With that experience under his belt, Hill is looking forward to improving on it at his next event.
"It went pretty good," he said. "I wish I could've done a little better than I did. I wish I was in a little bit better shape."
The next camp the two standouts will be attending is the LSU prospect camp in July. With several offers already in hand, Hill is hoping that one from the in-state power will be not far behind.
"That's what me and La'El were talking about," he said. "We're probably about 90 percent sure that we'll get that official offer at camp so we're looking forward to it."
As a sophomore, Hill rushed for over 1,000 yards and had over 200 yards receiving.