Michigan junior claims two offers
Southfield (Mich.) athlete Leviticus Payne is proving to be one of the top two-way prospects in Michigan for the class of 2012. The 5-10, 171-pound prospect has had several outstanding performances at camps and combines, including two that yielded verbal scholarship offers.
"I have two offers - one from Iowa and one from Toledo," Payne reported. "My first offer was from Toledo. I went to their camp and I did pretty good. The DB coach told me they were going to offer me. The Iowa offer came from the Sound Mind, Sound Body Camp."
Advertisement
Iowa assistant Erik Campbell attended the Sound Mind, Sound Body Camp in June and was the first Hawkeyes coach Payne came in contact with. He has received mail from them ever since.
"They send me a lot of information about their school and what they do up there. I am going to get their number one of these days and give them a call," Payne said. "I look at them as my major offer. I thought it was real cool and I must have been doing something right to get a verbal offer from them."
Behind the schools that have offered, Payne is starting to receive mail on a regular basis from schools across the country.
"The second most sending mail is Indiana," Payne said. "Another school is Michigan; they just started sending me mail. Stanford has started sending me mail, Cincinnati, Dartmouth, Central Michigan, UCLA and Illinois."
Payne attended just one game this fall and that was to Michigan on Nov. 20. He also has high interest in Indiana and Michigan State.
This past weekend, Payne took part in the Adidas Maximum Exposure Invitational in Rochester, Mich. He played both wide receiver and cornerback at that event, and continues to deliberate over which position will suit him best in college.
"Indiana, I think they want me for receiver. I think Iowa wants me for corner, but with most schools I don't know which side of the ball they want me for yet," Payne said. "I don't know if I want to be that lockdown guy or that explosive guy. I've been contemplating that for a long time."
This past season, Payne had 1,250 all-purpose yards and 15 total touchdowns on offense for a 5-4 Southfield team. He also returned a kickoff for a touchdowns and recorded around 40 tackles and six break ups on defense.