Madhu plans extensive tour

Tampa (Fla.) Plant safety Drew Madhu has gained four early offers since a recent strong showing at the Duke Nike Camp in late May. The first offer came in the day of that particular event.

"Elon was my first offer," Madhu said. "It was the day of the Nike Duke Camp. Me and some of the other guys were at Wake Forest and Elon's Head Coach (Jason Swepson) gave (Plant) Coach (Robert) Weiner a call. Coach Weiner told him he was in the car with me and I was smiling already knowing something great was going to happen. He told me they were going to offer me and coach had good things to say about me. Also said they liked me on film. It was great. I was really happy."

Immediately after Elon came an offer from one of the most prestigious academic universities in the nation.

"Harvard was pretty crazy," Madhu said. "My dad is actually from India, so that was a pretty big deal. It was an especially big deal to my grandma over in India, she was going crazy."

Soon after, Madhu added a pair of Division I offers - on the same day.

"UAB came in first and then FIU came in later that night," Madhu said. "That was a great day."

Now, the 6-foot-1, 196-pound defensive back plans to take an extensive road trip checking out numerous options and camping in hopes of landing more offers.

"At the end of the month, it is pretty busy for me," Madhu said. "I am heading out the 19th and going to Stanford on the 20th, Cal on the 21st, then head over to Purdue on the 22nd, then do a camp at Northwestern on the 23rd, the 24th I am heading to Yale to do a camp, and then the next day I am planning to do Boston College and UConn and then I am going to do a camp at Dartmouth the next day and then Rutgers the day after that I camp at Harvard."

According to Madhu, some other schools in the picture include Pittsburgh, South Florida, Vanderbilt, and Wake Forest. He summed up his interest in all schools right now as being relatively equal.

"I'm liking them all right now," Madhu said. "I am just enjoying the ride."

Madhu, who isn't working with a strict timeline in regards to making a decision, said academics will play a key role in helping him figure out his future home.

"I am really fine with playing anywhere, I just want to play college football at a great school," Madhu said. "I am really looking for a great academic school. Academics are strong in my family. So academics are definitely a big factor."