Lodge right where he started

It was about this time a year ago Rivals100 wide receiver DaMarkus Lodge began to see his recruiting process take off. It did not take long for the spotlight to grow bright on the Cedar Hill (Texas) standout, and it has not dimmed one bit since.

As the 6-foot-2, 190-pound pass catcher prepares for the spring the mail is piling high. In fact, the mail lady had to set him up with his own mail bucket. His Twitter handle @DaMarkusLodge18 has exploded. There are constant questions at every turn. Where are you visiting next? Who are your favorites? When do you want to decide?

The truth is Lodge is not that far from where he was a year ago.

"Right now I'm still at the place I began with," Lodge said. "No favorites, no one is leading. A couple of people are showing more love than others, but I'm still at the same place I was -- undecided."

Who are the programs showing the most attention?

"Right now it has to be Ole Miss. They're showing me the most love right now," Lodge said. They're in my Twitter DMs every day, just the fans, and my mentions every day, every hour. I see nobody but Ole Miss in my mentions on Twitter. I'm really liking it. They're one of the standouts. LSU is one of the standouts. Clemson, they're one of the standouts. Those are the schools that are showing me really the most love right now."

While Lodge has not narrowed his list at this point, he does plan to do so in the near future. He plans to have his choices narrowed down to a select few by the end of the summer, and to make a decision around the 2014 playoffs. There is a good reason for his time table.

"Because I definitely want to be sure and take all five of my officials before I make any decisions," Lodge said. "The last official I make should be around playoffs."

He has not made many official visit plans, but there is one official visit he knows will be on this schedule.

"I'm going down to Oxford to catch the Alabama game, the Ole Miss-Alabama game," Lodge said. "That's it for right now. I don't know anything else right now."

Lodge has had a chance to visit TCU and Texas A&M in the last few months and he does have plans to head to SEC country in the near future.

"As of right now, I don't know, but I should be at LSU sometime soon," Lodge said. "That's the only thing I really could think of right now."

He also has a few more trips he would like to make at some point.

"I want to get out to Death Valley. I definitely want to get out there," Lodge said. "I want to get out to Oregon. USC. UCLA. Florida, Florida State. I want to get up to Michigan…."

As he takes his trips, talks to coaches, and researches potential colleges there are a few factors at the top of his list.

"One of the biggest things to me is the offense. Because I'm a receiver so if I'm not catching balls I'm not happy, and I want to be happy wherever I go. So the offense is one of the biggest ones for me.

"The coaching staff. The coaching staff needs to be like a family to me. I want to feel like I can do or say whatever I feel around my coaches because I mean they're like family.

"Every program you go to is going to have a good education program, so I really can't say I want a good education program. Because it's a Division I college they're going to have that. Those are some of the things I'm looking at right now."

He has yet to develop connect with one particular coaching staff, but when it comes to fit, a few college offenses came to mind.

"Clemson, A&M. I think I would fit into LSU's offense. I mean they're just not the air it out team, but just from looking at it, they know how to get their receivers the ball, so I think I could fit into their offense too. That's all I can think of right now."

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