Mains calls an audible

Sometimes when talking to a player it's absolutely clear how tough of a decision they have to make. And for Naples (Fla.) Golden Gate three-star defensive end Anthony Mains the angst was crystal clear.

He had made a commitment to South Florida early in early October after taking official visits to Stanford, Wisconsin and UCF in September. But recently he started having second thoughts and the process began to really wear on him.

He said the more he thought about things, the more he wasn't comfortable with his original decision. And that's when he called an audible and decided to switch his commitment to Wisconsin.

"It was a tough decision," Mains said. "It was hard to tell myself and my family that I was going to leave Florida, but the thing that really got me to change was the academics at Wisconsin. There was also a big part of me that wanted to experience something new.

"Tampa is something I've already seen, and I wanted to get out and see th world."

Mains, who is ranked as the nation's No. 18 weakside defensive end and the No. 71 player in Florida, was recruited by Wisconsin assistant Dave Doeren. Mains said Doeren definitely played a role in his decision, but he also felt right at home with all the coaches.

"The thing about coach Doeren is that he'll be real with you," Mains said.

"It's like that with the whole coaching staff. They'll tell you what's on their minds and they don't do what most recruiters do. They'll tell you 'hell, yeah, it's cold up here, but we're a very good program with good academics and we're going to win a lot of games.' If other schools were up there, they'd just say 'it's great up here and it's really warm,' even if I know it's only 5 degrees.

"Those coaches, especially coach Doeren, have confidence in the program, and that was really refreshing and I loved it."

Mains said he's already had his coach talk to the South Florida coaching staff and that his decision is final. Mains also had scholarship offers from Stanford, Vanderbilt, West Virginia, UCF, Colorado, Louisville, South Carolina and several others.