Earlier this month, Middletown, Dela. defensive end Eric Latimore announced that he was favoring five schools -- Pittsburgh, Penn State, Maryland, Miami and Syracuse. A few of those schools have yet to offer the 6-foot-5, 240-pounder, but the prospect feels they are pretty close.

"I've got offers from Rutgers, West Virginia, Marshall, Penn State and Pittsburgh," he said. "I've been getting a lot of mail from Syracuse, Maryland and Miami and I think they are all really close to offering. I think I might have to visit them and talk more to the coaching staff though."

Does this mean the prospect is planning to take official visits to these five?

"It's still kind of early for me and I'm not sure who I'll visit yet, but I'd most likely visit the farthest places like Miami, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Michigan," he said. "I'm just going to see how comfortable I am on the visit and check out he environment there. I want to see the tradition the schools have, finally I want to see who's winning because I love winning and hate losing."

Two schools the prospect has begun to seriously consider for visits are Pittsburgh and Penn State.

"I'm looking at going to the Penn State/Ohio State game and the Pittsburgh/Notre Dame game for official visits," he said. "Unofficially I plan to go to a couple Maryland games too."

Before the season starts, Latimore is considering one more trip this time to Penn State.

"I'm thinking about going there in August for a practice," he said. "I'm still not sure if I'm going, but if I do I want to see how their routine is and just get a feel for the school."

Latimore's season starts on September 10th. What is the lineman looking forward to this year?

"I'm just looking to get the team to a championship," he said. "Personally, I want to get Defensive Player of the Year for the state, first team all-state and first team all-conference. I'm also setting high goals to get 20 sacks this season, it's reasonable because last year I got 12. Beyond that, I'm just looking to work on my technique coming off the line so that I'm unblockable."

Latimore racked up 57 tackles and 12 sacks as a junior.