ALLEN, Tex. -- 2019 high three star Allen defensive lineman Jayden Jernigan finished his offseason with visits to California and Florida, but they were of the more personal variety. His family was on the east coast for his sister’s college graduation and on the west for his grandfather’s retirement celebration.

That didn’t stop programs from calling him as soon as communication was opened to 2019 players earlier this month. Unfortunately for the teams that reached out to him, he was taking some personal time then, too.

“Things are looking good,” he said. “People were trying to call me at 12 o’clock (AM) but I was asleep. I looked at my phone when I woke up and saw 14 messages and I was like, ‘wow, what is this?’”

Jernigan said that Iowa State, SMU, TCU and Washington - just to name a few - were among the teams looking to make an early impression with him. Jernigan had thought about attending Oklahoma’s Week 1 win against UTEP, but a minor injury to his ankle in his own season-opening win against Cedar Hill last Friday left him thinking it better to take it easy over the weekend.

On Washington

“I was really liking Washington,” he said. “Levi (Onwuzurike) is up there from here, he’s a state champion. Washington is just live; they let their defense go. They like for them to just energize and get off the line.”

“I talked to (Onwuzurike) earlier and he likes it out there,” he said. “He said that it’s nice and the coaching style is just perfect. He said that it’s just like here and that they really stress moral values.”

On TCU

“TCU is nice - they’re right here so that would be easy for my family,” he said. “I’m from the west coast, my family out there could come and see me if I went to Washington, but I like Texas. It’s cheaper to live; I’m not trying to spend a lot of money, but it’s closer to my immediate family too.”

On USC, who he feels is likely the next team to offer him

“They like me as a 3-technique,” he said. “I’m quicker and I have size, so I could bull and pull, or just use my hands to get past people. I visited a year ago, but I missed out on my chance to go back again when I was out there because of my grandfather.”

Jernigan mentioned wanting to take visits to USC and Washington this season to take in a game but also included Texas Tech in that group as well. He still only holds four early offers; Iowa State, SMU and Tech among them, with Oklahoma State as his fourth. He’s a more compact defensive tackle, but capable of kicking at defensive end as well, and is an attractive prospect to teams looking for such a versatile player.