Kirby still committed to Canes, but listening to others

With Miami, the school Raphael Kirby) pledged to in May, being looked at by the NCAA, the Stone Mountain (Ga.) Stephenson linebacker admittedly is keeping his options open.

"I'm still committed - I'm still a Miami Hurricane," Kirby told Rivals.com. "But I've been getting phone calls [from other schools]. And I'm listening."

According to Kirby, a Rivals250 prospect who projects as an outside linebacker in college, roughly a dozen teams have been in contact with him since allegations about Miami were reported by Yahoo! last month. Asked if he would have talked with other schools had the situation not arisen at Miami, Kirby replied, "I would probably say no."

Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Virginia Tech are among the programs still pursuing Kirby. Georgia is recruiting him the hardest, he said.

The situation at Miami "was shocking," Kirby said. "It shocked everyone. But for the moment, they're just allegations. The coaches there are telling me to stay true to what they're doing, which is what I'm doing as of now. They're just staying humble and hoping all this can go past."

The 6-feet-1, 215-pound Kirby plans to take multiple official visits. But he doesn't yet know which schools he will hit besides Miami.

"I'm not sure ," Kirby said. "South Carolina maybe. I may go to Florida. Maybe even Stanford. Maybe Virginia Tech."

According to Kirby, he also is likely to take some unofficials.

"I'll probably figure those out this week," he said.

While Kirby's college plans seem a little uncertain at the moment, his postseason plans are not. He recently agreed to play in the 2011 U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio.

"It was a great honor," Kirby said. "I'm going to get to play with some of the top guys in the nation. As soon as I got the call I accepted the invitation."

Keith Niebuhr can be reached at kneebs01@aol.com. You can follow him on Twitter @KeithRIVALS.