Midwest star has Florida schools on his mind

Decatur (IL) Decatur MacArthur is home of arguably one the top defensive players in the country. Lawrence Dampeer, a defensive tackle, has racked up several big-time verbal scholarship offers, including Illinois, Michigan State, Missouri, Miami, Oklahoma State, Purdue, Southern Cal and UCLA. In the next two weeks, coaches from both Miami and Florida State will fly up to his school in Decatur, Illinois to check him out closely.

“Miami’s defensive coordinator Randy Shannon is scheduled to come up on the 23rd,” Dampeer said. “I believe he’s coming up to deliver a written offer. Coach Haggins of Florida State told me that he’ll be up sometime in the next week and a half. I believe he will offer also. I believe both of those schools want to offer me in person.”

Dampeer will narrow down his final list of schools sometime after May. Right now he’s open, but he has schools like Florida, Florida State, Miami, Illinois, Tennessee, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and UCLA on his mind.

Dampeer will have a difficult decision on deciding where he’ll play his college football, but he has an idea on what he’s looking for.

“I want to go someplace where I feel comfortable and be in a competitive situation,” Dampeer said. “I want to play with the best. I’m not looking for somewhere that goes 10-3 one year and then follows up with a 3-10 record.”

Surprisingly, Dampeer indicated that the University of Florida hasn’t been in contact.