Hard-hitting linebacker gaining interest

All it takes is one look at the film of explosive, hard-hitting linebacker Ricky Irvin and it is clear that he is a football player. Irvin has followed up a big junior season with an active offseason of camps and combines and is beginning to see several major colleges show significant interest.

"The offseason is going good," Irvin said. "I hit up a combine in San Antonio, the underclassman combine and that went good. This past weekend I attended the FBU camp in Houston and that went good too. I think I did pretty good. I'm just trying to learn where I stand and figure out where I need to improve."

The Westlake (La.) High School product has been to junior days at LSU and Texas A&M and has been invited to others at Ole Miss, Tennessee and Alabama. He has also heard from some west coast schools such as Stanford, Oregon and UCLA. Though no offers have come, Irvin is still working to get his name out.

"I'm trying to get my highlights out right now and maybe this summer at camps I'm hoping to get some more offers," he said.

What type of school would Irvin be interested in?

"Texas A&M is not too far from where I live, only about 2.5 hours," he said. "LSU is close. I really like Stanford too because of their academics and I'm getting a few letters from the Ivy League too, like Harvard and Princeton. I'm trying to think beyond college football. I'm going to go where the best opportunity to play football is but I definitely look at academics a lot."

Over the rest of the spring, Irvin hopes to get back to Texas A&M and also visit Nebraska. He also hopes to get to at least three camps this summer, likely LSU, Texas A&M and Nebraska.