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OL Doering talks road travels

Barrington, Ill. five star ranked offensive tackle prospect Dan Doering (6-foot-6, 290 pounds) spent the last week on the road, making a handful of unofficial visits before heading off for a well earned fishing trip on Saturday.
"I started to make a few unofficial visits over the last week or so," Dan Doering said. "Last Saturday I went to Illinois to watch my team in the Illinois passing 7 on 7 tournament, then I also made unofficial visits to both Tennessee and Ohio State."
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"I got to Illinois on Saturday morning, and I was able to watch my team in the passing 7 on 7. I was also able to talk to some of the coaches like head coach Ron Turner and coach (Mike) Mallory. I had a really good talk with the Illinois coaches, and they made me feel very welcomed at Illinois. I enjoy talking to the coaches at Illinois, and from a facility and campus standpoint I really didn't take a tour because I'm very familiar with everything in Champaign."
Doering then headed to Knoxville to check out the University of Tennessee.
"We were at Tennessee on Monday morning, and I was met at the football offices by Greg Adkins, who is the tight end/offensive line coach for the Volunteers. Coach Adkins gave us the full campus tour as well as a full tour of the facilities at Tennessee. I also was able to talk to a few academic advisors about the structure of the different programs and academic support for athletes. I also was able to spend some time with the Johnny Long, who the strength and conditioning coach at Tennessee, and he was a really great guy. Coach (Phillip) Fulmer was out of the office, but I called him on his cell and we had a good talk and he asked me how my unofficial visits was going."
"I just came away with a really comfortable feeling on the Tennessee campus. The people at Tennessee are just very friendly and outgoing, and everyone made me feel really very at ease and comfortable. The stadium and the facilities are great, and I just came away with a really good feeling about Tennessee."
Doering then headed to Columbus, Ohio and checked out The Ohio State University.
"I arrived at Ohio State on Tuesday, and that morning we met with Dick Tressel, who's the running backs coach and who's also head coach Jim Tressel's older brother. He gave us a full tour of the Woody Hayes Center, which includes the football offices, weight rooms and the Ohio State indoor facility and it was all very impressive. They are also going to expand the weightlifting area soon, but I was already impressed with what they have. I was also able to visit with some academic advisors as well as visit with one of the Sports Information Directors at Ohio State, and that was different and I really enjoyed talking to him."
"I also was able to talk to Allan Johnson, who's the strength and conditioning coach at Ohio State, and we got along really well. I also was given a full campus tour, and the campus was actually smaller than I thought, which is a good thing. I expected Ohio State to be this monster-sized school all spread out for miles, but the campus is relatively close together and I liked that quite a bit. We had lunch with TJ Downing, who an offensive linemen for the Buckeyes and Dick Tressel, and I really liked sitting and talking with TJ and having a chance to talk with him about Ohio State and the day to day things that I'll have to deal with in college. I went and visited Ohio Stadium, and just being on the field in the Horseshoe was pretty impressive. We toured the stadium and the locker rooms, and hanging from one of the lockers was an Ohio State jersey with my name and number on the back. I was really floored by that, it was a really cool touch."
"Before I left Ohio State, I was then able to sit down and talk with head coach Jim Tressel. We had a great talk, and I think we talked for over an hour easily. I really like him a lot, he's just a very straightforward coach and a very good person. I was really happy that I decided to check out Ohio State, and I also felt very comfortable at Ohio State."
Doering also talked about his remaining summer plans.
"I'm pretty much done with unofficial visits this summer. On Saturday, I'll be heading to Canada on a fishing trip with my Dad as well as several players and coaches from my school. We're driving over 19 hours and 1,500 miles to get up there, and I'm going to use that time to sleep. Seriously, I just want to relax and leave everything behind. No cell phones, no calls, no recruiting, just a chance to relax before I start getting ready for my senior year."
"I know that I'll have a big decision to make, and for now I just want to put it all aside and enjoy my vacation."
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