Kentucky athlete has offers
The No. 20 player in Rivals.com's preseason Kentucky Top 20, athlete Orlando Misaalefua, recently received scholarship offers from three Division I-A programs and is getting interest from three more.
The 6-foot, 200-pounder from Fort Campbell High has been offered by Troy, Ball State and Kentucky and is getting interest from Boise State, Utah and Hawaii. An offer from the Broncos, Utes and Rainbow Warriors could be forthcoming.
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He has unofficially visited UK and Ball State, along with Western Kentucky. He came back from Muncie, Ind., with good impressions of the Ball State program and campus.
"It was very nice," Misaalefua said. "The campus was nice. I liked it. It looked like a place that I would go."
He's being recruited by Cardinals defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Mark Smith.
"He's a pretty good guy," Misaalefua said. "I came to one of his games and he talked to his players. I liked that, that he could still talk to his players."
Defensive tackles coach Ricky Logo is recruiting Misaalefua for Troy.
"He's Samoan and I'm Samoan, so we always have something to talk about," he said.
Kentucky offensive coordinator Joker Phillips rounds out the coaches recruiting Misaalefua from the school that have offered him.
"I don't talk with him very much," he said. "I do know that he is a good coach. A good recruiting coach."
The two-star rated prospect added that coaches have been talking to him about playing outside and middle linebacker, along with strong safety. He does not have a favorite among the schools that have offered.
"I'd say that they're all even," he said. "I'm still looking around at a lot of schools."
Fort Campbell, which also features Notre Dame commit Leonard Gordon and Rivals100 jumbo athlete Micah Johnson, has stormed through the regular season and has its eye on a state title heading into the playoffs.
"The season is going very well," Misaalefua said. "We are dominating. We are 10-0 and we are getting into the playoffs. We should do really good."