OT Barclay gets first offer

The first offer for offensive tackle Donny Barclay out of Harmony (Pa.) Seneca Valley came in recently. Who did the 6-foot-5, 280-pounder get the scholarship from and what does he think about the program?

"North Carolina State sent me an offer in the mail," he said. "I was excited to get it and I'm really interested in them. They were the first school to start sending me letters back in the fall and it's fitting for them to now offer me. Coach Cignetti really picked it up in the last couple months sending me handwritten letters and such. I called him the night I got the offer and talked to him for 20 minutes. He mostly told me about how NC State is a great place and other personal stuff.

"I know that North Carolina State is a good academic school with great tradition and that is important to me. I haven't been to their college yet, but I really am hoping to check out the campus, facilities, weight rooms and talk to the coaches face to face when I go down to Raleigh on April 8th for their spring game."

Other schools continue to pursue the tackle prospect including Pittsburgh, Boston College, Michigan State, Akron and West Virginia. Barclay took a recent junior day visit down to Morgantown in late March.

"I had a real nice visit," he said. "I got to talk with coach Gibson and Trickett. They were both real nice. Coach Trickett actually coached my uncle back in 1987 and he started telling me old stories about him as a player, it was pretty neat. I also got to check out a spring practice. It was very organized and the atmosphere at school was nice."

The lineman prospect is looking to take in another visit in the coming month to either Pittsburgh or back to West Virginia for their spring game.

Barclay also plans to head to the Nike Camp at Penn State and Metro Index combine this spring. The tackle is looking at taking in camps at West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Akron this summer.