Lorig down to five

The original plan for Rolling Hills (Calif.) Peninsula tight end Eric Lorig was to make an early commitment and get the recruiting process out of the way before the season started. Since he missed that cut off by a few months, don’t look for the talented athlete to make a decision any time soon.

Players at Peninsula are encouraged to focus on just football during the season and as a result, Lorig still has yet to set up any of his official visits.

“Our coach doesn’t like us to be distracted during the season,” Lorig said. “I’m the same way, though. I don’t want to do anything that will take away from the focus of our team. We can still talk to the colleges but I’m going to wait until our year is over before I set my trip dates. I have my final five schools and do plan on taking all five trips, I just haven’t set them yet.

“The first two I’m going to set are definitely USC and Cal, those are my two favorites. Stanford, UCLA and Notre Dame are the others I will be visiting.”

Lorig gave his breakdown of each of the schools:

USC: “They’re recruiting me as an H-Back and I’m excited about that. It seems like it would be a fun position to play. I would play in the backfield some, at tight end some but mostly, I’ll be a pass catcher. I also love the coaches and how well the team is playing.”

Cal: “I have a lot of friends who play there, they need a tight end pretty bad and I like the area a lot. I’ve been there a bunch of times on unofficial visits and it’s just a cool place. Plus my dad went there and he likes the schools a lot.”

Stanford: “It’s mainly their academics, they have the best academics of all the schools. They’re recruiting me as an athlete and said they’ll figure out where the best place for me to play is once I get there. They’re a team on the rise and I think they’re going in the right direction.”

UCLA: “They need a tight end as well, they don’t have a lot of depth there. They have a young coaching staff and I really get along with them. They have a strong offense and I think the program is on the verge of turning things around. They’re close to home and my mom went there and had a great experience.”

Notre Dame: “I love their tradition and I like the campus. I took an unofficial visit there in the summer and really liked it a lot. I also like the coaches a lot and it’s a good school academically. They’re the one school that is recruiting me strictly for defense, they want me to play on the defensive line.”

The speculation with Lorig has long been this is strictly a USC- Cal battle but he said he does have a sincere interest in his other schools on his list.

"Cal and USC are my two favorites but I'm very interested in the other three on my list as well," Lorig said. "Honestly, everyone has a shot. No one is that much higher than the others."