Hood picks up offer number five

Just one month ago, Knoxville (Tenn.) Catholic two-way lineman, Daniel Hood was a first-year football player with tremendous upside and no offers. Now, Hood has five offers to his credit from some of the most prestigious programs in the Southeast.

The fifth offer came on Monday.

"I just got an offer from Florida State," Hood said. "I talked to coach Trickett. I talked to him for about 20 minutes and they offered today."

The talk with Coach Trickett made a strong impression on Hood as the offensive line coach made his pedigree and background very clear.

"He seemed like a great coach who knows what he's talking about," he said. "He said he's had I don't know how many first round draft picks so he knows what he's talking about."

The program itself is impressive to Hood as well. The 6-foot-5 255 pounder watched Florida State dominate the college football landscape as he was growing up and he has several friends with strong Florida State ties.

"I've got a bunch of friends here that are great fans so already off the bat I've told a few of them about it and they already said 'when are you gonna sign?' I was forced to watch Florida State a bunch of times in the National Championships when they were always ranked in the top 5. Their coach is really good too. He's built a legacy there at Florida State."

The offer has also opened up Hood's eyes to the continued rise of his stock.

"It's kind of hard to believe that two months ago when I was getting my highlight film made, I never would have thought that I'd be getting all of these calls from these coaches from different states."

With last year being his first year of organized football, Hood still has a tremendous amount of upside to his game, but the question is, 'at what position?'. Florida State has made it clear that it wants him as an offensive tackle.

"It's actually kind of weird because Tennessee and Auburn are both looking at me as a D-lineman," he said. "Ole Miss was talking tight end or defensive tackle. Louisville was looking offense or defense. Right now I'm open to playing anything. Of course if I'm a better offensive lineman I'll probably play, but if I can stay defense I would do that."

Due to his versatility, Hood also is not in a big hurry to bulk up to a massive size. At this point, his overall athleticism is more important to the two-way standout.

"I'm really not trying to gain weight," said the 255-pounder. "Of course when it comes, I'm not going to complain about it. I'd rather be a little bit slim and athletic than 290 pounds and moving a little slower."

Up next for Hood is a trip to Tuscaloosa for the Alabama Nike Football Training where he hopes to continue his rapid ascent up recruiting boards.

"I'm pretty excited about it," he said. "We start Spring Practice a little bit before that. I'll have to days of Spring Practice to get ready for it so I'll be going full speed."