Here comes the SEC for Calif QB

When it comes to memorable senior seasons, not much can top the journey that Corona, Calif., standout Brian Hidlebrand has been on. His team has a 4-1 record and his recruiting resume has turned red-hot.

“Yeah, I can’t believe things are going this well,” Hidlebrand said. “The one loss we had we didn’t have our starting tailback and ended up playing a kid that hadn’t really played football for two years. He’s a track guy, and he’s really fast, but he had to learn on the fly.”

Hidlebrand, a 6-foot-2, 190-pounder that is ranked as the nation’s No. 12 pro-style quarterback, put up 22 touchdown passes as a junior, but so far as a senior he’s only thrown for three and rushed for an additional two. That’s Ok, he said mainly because his team is winning.

“I’d rather have the wins than the big stats,” he said. “I’m doing great things, except that the stats aren’t that great. But what I do on the field makes a difference. But I don’t want the losses and the big stats. I’d much rather have the wins.”

Who wouldn’t?

But still Hidlebrand has began to open up the eyes of college coaches from all over the nation and a few SEC teams are starting to take a notice of him. He already has scholarship offers from Colorado, Colorado State, Oregon State and San Diego State, but new teams like Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama are now starting to show him heavy interest – especially the Vols.

“My coach is sending Tennessee some tape out and I’ve talked to their coaches a few times,” Hidlebrand said. “They’re trying to get in the mix more. I never thought a team from the SEC would be interested in me, but I think it’s pretty cool. They have a lot of fans and football is big time in the South.”

Hidlebrand, however, does have two official visits scheduled already. He’s set to visit Colorado on October 24 and will be at Oregon State on November 14.

He said he’s still pretty open to about anybody at this point, especially with the teams in the SEC showing him interest now.