Machen picks up even more

Hilliard (Ohio) Darby linebacker B.J. Machen remains one of the most wanted defenders in Ohio. The 6-foot, 221-pound linebacker continues to rack up more and more offers as the spring evaluation process closes.

"I've gotten a lot of really good offers recently," Machen said. "The recruiting process has picked up a lot for me. I just recently got offers from Syracuse, Pitt, Nebraska, Stanford and Michigan State."

All of the offers have excited him, but Syracuse is a school that definitely intrigues him.

"They've been wanting to offer me for a while," Machen, who could also project as a safety, said. "They just wanted me to come visit, and I've been trying to get up there, but I told them I'd come up this summer. Then today they decided to pull the trigger. Coach Russ sent me a text and told me to call him so I did. He gave me the good news. I'm looking forward to getting up there and seeing the campus."

It won't be the only place he visits this summer.

"Me and my dad want to take a lot of unofficial visits this summer," he said. "We want to go see Stanford, Georgia Tech, West Virginia and then maybe revisit some of those North Carolina schools. We're going to Syracuse of course. We'll try to get to Nebraska, Pitt, Illinois and Cincinnati. We've got a lot traveling to do.

"We're going to visit North Carolina, NC State and Duke. Then we're going to see Vanderbilt and Louisville as well with about nine or ten other guys from my team."

At this point Machen said an early top group has emerged.

"If I had to say like a top five I'd put Stanford, Syracuse, Maryland, Georgia Tech and then maybe West Virginia or Illinois," he said. "There's not really a front runner. Like I said, I've got to take these visits and then narrow it down to a top two or three or maybe a favorite."

Machen is already gearing up for the start of his senior season.

"I think two-a-days start in August," he said. "We have passing camps and stuff throughout late June and July. We're lifting right now though. We lift all year round.

"We play Davidson first game of the season on August 24th. I definitely expect to win. I expect us to have a great season. We have a lot of good senior so we should have great leadership. We've also got some good enthusiasm that I think we lacked last year.

"I want to go out with a bang my senior year. I want to have the best season possible. It's my last season of high school football. These guys I've been playing with for years and basically grown up with. So I just want to have a lot of fun and win as many games as possible."