James clicks with Hoosiers
Edwardsville (Ill.) three-star cornerback Craig James took his first official visit of the process this past weekend to Indiana, and now the Hoosiers are making a move to the top of his interest list.
"I like everything I saw there," James said. "I love the campus and I liked the players they have there. The players seemed like players I could relate to, chill with and be teammates with the next four years."
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The Hoosier James spent the most time with during the weekend was his player-host, junior cornerback Kenny Mullen, who shared a player's insight of the program with James.
"One question I had was I asked him how Coach [Brandon] Shelby was," James said. "He said he was pretty much straight-up with you, and that's what I like. I don't want a coach to sugarcoat anything, just be straight with me about everything."
James also had a chance to watch Shelby's defensive backs in action on Saturday when Indiana played host to Missouri.
"Pretty much their defensive scheme is everything we run at our high school, so hopefully I can get used to it pretty quickly," James said. "I saw an opportunity for Indiana. There is a lot of time to build, and that's what they are in the process of doing."
The 5-foot-10, 170-pound James had listed Iowa as the team to beat over the summer, but with his recent official visit to Indiana the Hoosiers have joined the Hawkeyes at the top.
"Indiana and Iowa are probably the two biggest schools on my mind right now because those are the only two schools I've visited," James said. "Until I visit different schools, that probably won't change."
An official visit has been discussed with the Iowa coaches, and James has a tentative date for that trip.
"I planned on the 23rd of November but I might have to change that because hopefully we will be [in playoffs] that weekend," he said.
Other schools are still in the mix for James, but whether he will visit those schools is still undecided.
"I am trying to visit Minnesota, Syracuse and Kansas," James said. "I talked to Minnesota maybe two weeks back and I'm still deciding on whether we should go there with my mom."