Lopez focused on camps, visits

John Lopez is excited for this off-season because he plans to take a bunch of unofficial visits and also so he can compete in a number of camps including the Asante Trenchman Academy in the next few weeks.

Lopez, a 6-foot-5, 328-pound offensive lineman in the 2013 class from Orange (Calif.) Lutheran, worked out at Asante's camp last season and will return to compete in lots of one-on-one drills and to get trained by some of the best coaches in Southern California.

"You go to some of these other camps and you see most of these kids but the Asante camp it's going to be pure linemen competition," Lopez said. "It's going to be an amazing experience.

"The one-on-ones is a big part of the lineman's game play. That one-on-one experience gives us a lot of confidence in the pass rush. College coaches look at that, if you're good at that, so it's a good thing for them. Those one-on-ones give us an opportunity to work and improve on our skills so it's really important."

As for recruiting, Lopez has offers from Florida State and UCLA and said he's hearing from lots of Big Ten schools that prefer bigger linemen like Nebraska and Wisconsin and a bunch of Pac-12 programs.

This off-season, Lopez said he wants to take some visits so he can get a better feel of which programs stand out most to him.

Early in his recruitment, Lopez said he would prefer staying closer to home - whether at USC or UCLA - but now he's looking at all his options as things get busier.

Orange Lutheran teammate Christo Kourtzidis, a four-star tight end, is committed to the Seminoles and that's another reason why Florida State interests Lopez at this point in his recruitment.

"We're going to try to go to all those camps and then fit in a bunch of visits this summer and this off-season," Lopez said. "I want to get out there and talk to some coaches.

"I definitely want to visit Florida State. I haven't been out there and I want to see what it's like out there. I want to meet those coaches."