Local schools lead for Simas

Even though he's ranked as one of the nation's top 100 prospects, it's been a long time since anybody did an interview with San Diego (Calif.) Mira Mesa blue-chip receiver Markques Simas. But the drought is over, and for the 6-foot-2, 200-pound receiver it's hardly barren when it comes to attention from the college coaches.

"Clemson is the newest school to start to show interest in me," said Simas, who was at the Rivals.com Junior Day in Anaheim, Calif., two weeks ago. "SC, UCLA, San Diego State Colorado and a bunch of other West Coast teams have been sending me stuff.

"I have a couple offers right now – Colorado, Boise State, Oregon State, and San Diego State have all offered me and a few other teams have told me they were going to. Nebraska said they were going to and a couple others, but I haven't seen the offer from them so I can't really say I have an offer."

But there is a team that hasn't offered that has caught his eye.

"The only team that stands out to me is USC," Simas said. "They are the leader right now if I named one. They wanted me at their Junior Day and they really liked my film, so they want to evaluate me a little more. I'm going to their one-on-one camp and their Rising Senior camp in the end of June. They've been really looking at me and they just want me to keep doing what I'm doing."

But new San Diego State coach [db]Chuck Long[/db] and his staff are also making an impression, too.

"San Diego State is probably recruiting me the hardest right now," he said. "I've been to a couple of their practices and they really like me. I'm from San Diego, so I love them. I grew up here watching them so they're a team I'm definitely looking at.

"I really want to play in the Pac-10. I've always wanted to play there so it would be good to go somewhere in that conference. Plus, I want to get televised so people can watch me play a little bit."

Even though it looks like months before Simas makes a decision, he's already thought about what's going to be important for him.

"How close the school is to home will be important to me," he said. "I'm very family-oriented so I want to stay close to my mom. She will help me make my decision.

"I don't have any set time when I want my decision to be made. I'm trying to get it done before the season starts, but I want to take some visits. I'll probably take at least a couple of visits. I'm not sure about taking all five visits, but I'll take at least two."