Nations top player down to 3
And then there were three. That’s the case for the nation’s No. 1 ranked quarterback and the No. 1 overall player in the country, Ben Olson, the left-handed quarterback from Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Olson has narrowed his choices to three schools – BYU, Stanford and UCLA.
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Olson says he expects to make a decision between the three schools by the end of his senior football season.
USC has been eliminated from consideration.
Olson’s team started slowly this year, beginning 0-2. But Thousand Oaks has rallied to four straight wins and Olson has passed for more than 1,100 yards and 11 touchdowns in the process.
“I think I’m feeling more comfortable in the pocket right now,” Olson said. “As a team, we’re just having more fun and enjoying the game.”
Olson also took in the recent UCLA-Washington contest at the Rose Bowl as a guest of the Bruins. Some Bruin fans partook in some good-natured ribbing.
“Some of the fans were heckling me. You know, they were saying, ‘Do you see that score? BYU’s losing (to UNLV)’ during the game. I guess it was their way of saying ‘Come to UCLA”. I didn’t mind it at all. It was all in good fun. It actually made me laugh a little.”
The 6-foot-5, 205-pound quarterback said he eliminated USC not because he didn’t think highly of the school, but just through the process of elimination.
“I have nothing against USC or any of their coaches. They were real nice throughout. It’s just I think my decision is really coming down between Stanford, BYU and UCLA and I’m trying to focus more on those three.”
Olson has already made unofficial visits to all three campuses and met with the coaches from each school, so it is his plan to actually announce his decision prior to making any official visits. For that reason, he has yet to schedule any official visits with any of the schools.