Louisiana FB stays in state

Lafayette (La.) St. Thomas More two-star fullback Kasey Stelly has made up his mind.

"I committed to Tulane last night," Stelly, who is 6-foot-1 and 220 pounds, said. "I just called coach Doug Lichtenberger because he's been recruiting me. I just told him I was ready to commit to Tulane, and he said he was really happy and it made his night and that he was proud to have me on board."

So why is did he pick the Green Wave?

"A bunch of things like the education, some of the other recruits that I know going there and I really like coach Bob Toledo the new coach," Stelly said. "I think they're really going to rebuild something special there at Tulane, and I want to be a part of it. Then the depth chart, they don't have too many fullbacks on the team. They have one maybe two. So I could play over there."

Stelly said he's excited about his future with Tulane, but he didn't want to totally shut down his recruiting at this point. With offers from Louisiana-Lafayette and McNeese State, he was also receiving attention from SEC programs like Auburn, LSU and Ole Miss.

"I'd say I'm a soft verbal," he said. "I'm committed but I'm still very open. If a bigger school came in and offered me something really good then maybe I would de-commit. But right now I'm committed to Tulane."

At this point, though, Tulane is the only school he's certain he'll visit.

"I'm definitely going to officially visit Tulane," he said. "It's going to be sometime in December or January. I'm just trying to see if I can get anymore offers as the season goes. I just want to see how the coaches from some of the bigger schools react."