No pranks for TE Hiben, just offers

Chaska, (Minn.) tight end prospect Joey Hiben (6-foot-5, 235 pounds) from Waconia High School had a big April Fool's Day today. Fortunately for Hiben, what happened really today wasn't a prank, as Hiben has landed two scholarship offers tonight within a 20 minute period.

"I called Coach Chaney from Purdue University about 8PM. When I spoke to him tonight he said he passed my highlight tape to Coach Tiller, and he told me that Coach Tiller fell in love with my tape. He said that when I return from spring break I would have a written scholarship offer in the mail waiting for me when I get back home. Coach Tiller said that they are recruiting at me as a tight end."

If this sounds like an April Fool's joke to you, just wait, it gets better. After finishing his call to the Purdue staff, Hiben then managed to call Coach Craig Kuligowski from the University of Missouri before packing for his trip.

"I called coach Kuligowski about 20 minutes after I spoke to coach Chaney from Purdue, and coach Kuligowski said he liked my highlight tape. Coach Kool likes me as a defensive end, but he also told me that head coach Gary Pinkel told him that he liked me as a tight end. Coach Kuligowski then told me that I could play either position for Missouri, the choice is really mine. Coach Kuligowski also said that a written scholarship offer would be waiting for me in my mailbox when I return from spring break."

So what's next for Hiben? "I leave for spring break with my parents in the morning. When I get back I'll have a few track meets. In May, I'll be at the Minnesota Preps.Com Football Combine on May 8th. I'm also heading to the Nike Training Camp at Penn State on May 15th."

So what are some of the factors that Hiben will focus on in making his final college selection. "The strength of the Football program is something I'm going to look at. The campus atmosphere will be very important. I really want to find a place that I'll fit in. I want to get along with my teammates and the coaches. Academics are also very important

to me as well. The distance from home really isn't a big deal for me."

Joey Hiben is also drawing recruiting interest and mail this spring from several schools, including hand written mail from Stanford, UConn, Notre Dame and Texas Tech.

MinnesotaPreps.com contributed to this story