Ohio QB has a big visit this weekend

Cleveland (Ohio) South quarterback Devontae Payne knows the recruiting process is drawing to a close and he is preparing to make his final decision. The 6-5, 220-pound quarterback has taken two official visits and has at least two more to go, with an important recruiting trip planned for this weekend.

Several coaching changes within the Mid-American Conference have significantly affected Payne's recruitment. He currently holds offers from Akron, Toledo and Eastern Michigan. He has taken visits to two of those schools and will see the third this weekend.

"I took (visits) to Akron, Toledo and I'm going to Eastern Michigan (Friday)," Payne reported. "Texas Southern, too, they are going to offer and I'm going down there next weekend. I'm just trying to find the best fit. I've bonded good with all the coaching staffs so far."

Payne visited Akron the weekend of Dec. 5 and Toledo the weekend of Dec. 19. He is excited about the visit this coming weekend to Eastern Michigan and has the Eagles as the team that has jumped out and caught his attention the most at this point in the process.

"The offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Eastern Michigan was the one who told them about me," Payne said. "He was going to offer me at Toledo when I went to their summer camp. I developed a great relationship with him at camp and now he's (at Eastern Michigan). He played in the NFL and the things he was teaching me at the camp was nice."

Former Toledo quarterbacks coach Ken Karcher is the new offensive coordinator on Ron English's staff at Eastern Michigan. Based on Payne's talks with Karcher in the last week, the big Ohio quarterback already feels comfortable with the situation in Ypsilanti and hopes to use this weekend's trip to build stronger relationships with the rest of the staff.

"I'm excited to meet the head coach," Payne said. "Coach Karcher came to my house and we talked about a lot of things, so I got a lot of questions answered favorably."

This past season, Payne completed 82-of-181 attempts for 1,400 passing yards and 14 passing touchdowns. He also tallied 250 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns.