James recruitment getting hectic
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Andre James holds nine scholarship offers. None of those are just being left to simmer. It's somewhat common for a coaching staff to cast off an invitation and break contact for a while, but James' experience has been quite the opposite.
Every school that has made things official is in heavy pursuit. Is the situation hectic? Maybe so. But it's also flattering.
"Pretty much every school I've been talking to has dropped by my school recently," said James, a junior offensive tackle at Utah's Herriman High School. "All the schools that have offered and more. Pretty much all of them."
With all of the interaction, which comes mostly via social media and phone call, James is starting to build relationships. And while it's still early in his recruitment, some of those bonds are stronger than others.
Certain assistant coaches have made strong impressions.
"I really like Oregon's head coach," James said. "He came and talked to me. I really like Coach (Kyle) Whittingham from Utah. He came to talk to me and was cool. I really like Coach [Bill] Bedenbaugh from Oklahoma, too. He's a real cool dude."
Utah has been heavily involved in James' recruitment for some time. The tackle will survey his options, which span the country, but staying close to his family home, while maybe not incredibly likely, isn't out of the question by any means.
"Staying in state could become an option," James said. "but weather I stay in state or going out of state isn't a big deal to me."
James plans to visit USC and UCLA while he is in California for a camp in March. He intends to wait until the start of his senior season at the earliest to make a verbal commitment.
A three-star prospect, James is ranked as the No. 38 offensive tackle in America.
Rob Cassidy is a West Region football recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. You can click here to follow him on Twitter.
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