Hirschman making camp rounds
Los Gatos, Calif., quarterback Nick Hirschman knows the junior year highlight tape he sent out to schools doesn't do himself justice. This month, he's setting out to prove it.
The 6-foot-2, 212-pound pocket passer has improved dramatically under the tutelage of respected quarterbacks coach Bob Johnson and will attend Oregon State's summer camp on Friday. It'll be the first of five camps Hirschman plans to attend this month.
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"I've worked to change all my bad habits," he said. "Now that I have, I'm excited to show my skills off and show schools that what I am now is a whole lot better."
Hirschman's gauntlet of camps is already off to a good start. He impressed at UCLA's one-day summer camp on June 6 and earned the attention of offensive coordinator Norm Chow.
"I felt very good about my drill work and overall I felt good about my performance," he said. "After the camp, coach Chow brought me and another quarterback, Brett Nottingham, into the team room along with a few other people and said we had outstanding camps and that they would be recruiting us heavily."
Following Oregon State's camp, Hirschman will camp at Boise State, San Diego State, Colorado and Stanford.
Though he only has an offer from Harvard, Hirschman had talked extensively with UCLA, Oregon State and Colorado recently.
Hirschman's recent trip to UCLA, his second this spring, left him even more impressed with what the Bruins have to offer.
"I loved it down there - the facilities, the campus life, all the coaches were great," he said. "Coach Chow seems like a great coach and he knows so much about the game. It'd really be an honor to get to learn about the game of football from him."
Hirschman said a visit he took to Oregon State during spring break changed his mind about the school.
"When I went there, I didn't think it was going to be the greatest thing, but we toured it and met all the coaches and it seems like a wonderful place to go to school," he said. "It felt like a good fit for me."
Colorado has come on strong recently for Hirschman, and he's looking forward to taking a trip to Boulder.
"I've talked to coach (Eric) Kiesau and they seemed fairly interested," he said. "I plan on going up to camp there and showing them what I can do. I hear their campus is awesome."
Hirschman said he's begun to narrow down his choices. Joining UCLA, Oregon State and Colorado in his top six are Stanford, USC and Harvard.
Two schools he's had contact with, Stanford and Cal, have already locked up quarterback commits for their 2010 recruiting classes.
Four-star pro-style passer Austin Hinder of Steamboat Springs, Colo., is committed to Cal, and three-star quarterback Dallas Lloyd of Pleasant Grove, Utah, recently gave his verbal pledge to Cardinal coaches.
Despite these commitments, Hirschman isn't ruling either school out at this point.
"I talked to coach (Andy) Ludwig from Cal and he said they're going with Austin, which is fine. He said lots of stuff can change from now until Signing Day, and he wanted to express that if things go bad, I'm still on their board. It was nice of him to say that.
"When I talked to coach (David) Shaw from Stanford, he said that since their commit is Mormon and plans on going on a mission, they're planning on taking another person this year. I'm still in correspondence with them."