Odom unlikely to leave Florida

Deland, Fla., defensive tackle Reggie Odom is a guy that many people in recruiting circles are going to be extremely familiar with by the time Signing Day 2006 rolls around. He is on the Rivals.com pre-evaluation top 100 list and has caught the eye of pretty much every school in America already.

"I have not picked up my first offer yet, but I am hearing from just about every big time Division I school out there right now," Odom said. "Miami, Florida, Florida State, Alabama, Tennessee, Wake Forest, Oklahoma and Iowa are some of the ones sending me the most mail and all right now, but I have gotten stuff from just about everyone you could name."

The 6-foot-2, 290-pound Odom runs the 40-yard dash in 5 seconds flat and has a 320-pound bench press and 425-pound squat. He is also an excellent academic student who carries a 3.5 GPA. He has yet to take the test, but is scheduled to take both the ACT and SAT in March.

"Right now I am really focused on the Florida schools," Odom said. "There might be some other schools that could get in there, but Miami, Florida State and Florida are definitely at the top. I really want to stay close to home so that is one reason that I like them, but I also liked all three of those schools a lot as a kid."

Out of the "big three" in Florida, was there one that Odom pulled for over the others as a kid?

"I really liked them all," Odom said. "I always pulled for all three of them no matter who they played out of state. When they played each other I usually just pulled for the one that was the biggest underdog that year. They were all three competing for national championships when I was a kid and I would always pull for one of them to win it."

As a junior Odom racked up 50 tackles, eight tackles for loss, eight sacks, had five pass break-ups and caused and recovered three fumbles.

"I really want to explore and go on all of my official visits," Odom said. "I definitely don't want to just jump into anything because it's such an important decision. My main thing is that I want to stay close to home. I will be checking out the atmosphere at the school. Playing time is good an all, but if you work hard enough that is going to come at some point no matter where you go."

Odom stated that he plans to attend the NIKE camp in Tallahassee in May as well as team camps at all three of the Florida schools and possibly some speed camps as well over the summer.

Deland football coach Dean Fabrizio certainly can see why Rivals.com lumped Odom into such a prestigous group of prospects during the early evaluation period.

"He is the most natural football player I've been around," Fabrizio said. "As long as he keeps working hard and doing what he's doing, Reggie can punch his own ticket."