Indiana junior sets four visits

Brownsburg (Ind.) athlete Chase Dutra is off to a great start to his junior season, as well as his recruitment. The 6-2, 205-pound prospect has been receiving mail from more than a dozen schools and has decided on four programs he wants to visit this fall.

Among the teams showing interest in Dutra are Northwestern, Iowa, Boston College, Colorado, Iowa State, Georgia Tech, Purdue, Nebraska and Ball State. He took his first unofficial visit to Ball State earlier this month, and will head to Georgia Tech this coming weekend.

"I received a handwritten card from Coach [Paul] Johnson and signed by all the assistant coaches saying they would love to have me down in Atlanta for their ACC opener versus North Carolina," Dutra said. "It said they are inviting the top players in the nation and would love for me to RSVP, so I called tonight and told them I would be there.

"They have been sending mail and I'm Facebook friends with two coaches, but to get a hand written letter from Coach Johnson was cool."

Next month, Dutra plans to make game visits to Big Ten programs Northwestern and Purdue. He will see the Wildcats on Oct. 8.

"I have been getting letters from Coach [Dennis] Springer," Dutra said. "He said he is going to enjoy recruiting me and showing me why I should choose NU. He thinks I'm an explosive wide receiver/athlete."

"Until two weeks ago I didn't know Purdue was interested, but the Director of Recruiting, [Paul] Gonnella, sent me a handwritten card that said I'm at the top of their board for the 2013 Class as an Athlete. So I'm going to West Lafayette in four weeks to see what Purdue is all about."

The last school Dutra plans to visit this fall for a home game is Iowa, and like the rest of the schools on his list, the Hawkeyes have been active in sending mail this month.

"Over the last month I get mail almost every day," Dutra said. "Coach [Eric] Johnson says they are looking at me at safety or wide receiver. They like that I have a great nose for the end zone and my toughness. The environment at Iowa is supposed to be one of the best."

The 6-2, 205-pound Dutra has racked up statistics from both sides of the football and special teams this fall. As a safety he has 29 total tackles and two pass break ups. On offense he has scored ten touchdowns on just 25 carries and also has 11 receptions for 190 yards. In addition, he has two kickoff returns for touchdowns, one of which went for 99 yards.

What makes Dutra's stats all that more impressive is that he has played with a cast on his arm for most of the season after breaking it dunking in an AAU basketball game in July. His team is now 4-1 on the season and ranked No. 7 in Class 5A.