LB Freeman still sitting with top five

Believe it or not, but football is already being played on the high school and college gridiron and one of the nation’s top prospects, Marcus Freeman of Huber Heights (Ohio) Wayne, saw his season get started on a down note.

“We lost to Cincinnati Oak Hills 21-14,” a disappointed Freeman said. “I did decent, but I have a lot of work to do. I don’t know how many tackles I had or what type of stats I put up. All that matters is that we lost and we need to get better.

“I don’t like losing.”

Freeman hopefully will turn it around this upcoming week, but he said he was happy to just get back on the field. He’ll also be happy again next week when he gets to check out Ohio State in person for the Buckeyes first game of the season.

“I’m so glad that college football is back,” he said. “It’s going to be a good game and there are a few of my former teammates at Ohio State, so I thought it’d be fun to check them out. Plus, it should be a good game.”

Freeman said that not much has really changed in the recruiting process. His top five list remains consistent, much as it has for the past few months.

“It’s still Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Miami and Oklahoma,” Freeman said. “I’ve looked at a few dates for my official visits, but nothing has been set in stone yet. I guess we’ll talk about that more when they call on September 1.”

September 1 is the first time college coaches can make contact on the phone with recruits again after the dead period during the summer. The 6-foot-2, 240-pound Freeman said he’s not really sure what he wants to ask the college coaches but will mainly use the time to get to know the coaches better and also let some of the other school that aren’t in the top group that he’s no longer interested.

“Hopefully, I can get the littler ones out the door,” he said. “That way I can just focus on my top group.”

Speaking of top group, does any other team have a shot at creeping in there and maybe bumping a team out of that top five?

“It’d be probably Florida or Tennessee,” Freeman, who is ranked as the nation’s No. 4 inside linebacker and the No. 44 player in the nation by Rivals.com, said.

“I like what they’re doing and how they’re recruiting me. Tennessee started to really show me more interest at the end of last year and I just started talking to them then. We’ll see in September.”