Offers are mounting for Harrell

Offers are mounting for offensive tackle Mark Harrell. The Charlotte (N.C.) Charlotte Catholic lineman landed his fourth offer on Wednesday, his first from the SEC.

"Duke offered me in October, that was my first offer," he said. "Then, Georgia Tech offered on their junior day two weeks ago, Virginia offered me on Signing Day and Kentucky offered me yesterday."

What does he think of the scholarships to date?

"It's exciting," he said. "I definitely feel fortunate that I'm getting offers this early. I know usually it's around spring, but it's pretty nice. It keeps my options open and gives me time to think, I'm definitely really excited about it. I like the schools, but I haven't really thought about which ones are favorites."

Harrell has already taken trips to Duke, NC State and most recently Georgia Tech for a junior day a couple weeks ago.

"I like the campus, I was pleasantly surprised, it didn't really feel like it was in the city," he said. "I liked the coaches too. Paul Johnson seems like a really nice guy and Coach Spencer seems nice too."

Harrell plans to take visits in the next month to Virginia, Duke and Clemson too.

Though his father attended Wake Forest and mother Maryland, Harrell claims no favorites.

"I like all the schools I've gotten an offer from," he said. "I'd like to get more SEC attention and Notre Dame would be cool considering I'm Catholic with the Catholic tradition and environment."

To date, most of Harrell's interest has come from the ACC, but he's also getting looks from Tennessee, West Virginia and Michigan.

With plenty of interest going around, what does he want in a school?

"What I want, I want it to be a nice campus cause I'll be living there for the next four years," he said. "Primarily it's academics, I need a good education cause football will not last forever, you need a solid degree behind you. I want to major in business or management

"I want a good football school, that's definitely a plus. I would like to stay relatively close to home. I don't want to go halfway across the country."

The 6-foot-5, 260-pounder helped Catholic to a 14-1 record this past season.

"It went well, we had a good season and got over 4,000-yards of offense, we mostly run the ball," he said. "I think I'm a good run blocker, I have good feet and get leverage, I roll my hips wlel and basically have good explosion.

"I am still trying to work on my pass blocking. I haven't really done it cause all I do is run blocking, but I'm working with my offensive line coach Frank Garcia (NFL Carolina Panthers). I'm starting to work on that before and after practice."

How has working with Garcia helped Harrell?

"I've definitely learned a lot of knowledge of the game," he said. "He's really good at what he does. He's taken me under his wing and improved my pass protection already. He's helped me out a lot and knows what it takes."