Pac-10 school leads for Micenheimer

Malique Micenheimer attended a one-day camp at Stanford and he will return to Palo Alto later this month for two more days of workouts.

The visits are not a coincidence. Micenheimer, a 6-foot, 220-pound inside linebacker from Stockton (Calif.) Ronald E. McNair, is really hoping to land an offer from the Cardinal.

"They haven't offered me yet but I talked to their recruiting coordinator and the recruiting coach for my area and he said they're looking for linebackers this year because they're losing a lot of them," Micenheimer said of Stanford. "They were saying if I come back to the camp it could be very beneficial and I could even pick up an offer.

"That's the top school. That would be right for me and my family. It's pretty encouraging to know that it could be a possible offer at Stanford."

Micenheimer attended a one-day camp at UCLA recently as well and although the Bruins' coaching staff liked what they saw they reportedly told the northern California prospect that they're not sure if an inside linebacker is in the cards for their 2011 recruiting class.

"I went down there and I had a pretty good workout," Micenheimer said. "After the workout the linebackers coach told me they're not really looking for too many middle linebackers and that's what I'm predicted to play.

"They're looking for two or three outside linebackers. They're going to continue to recruit me but they're not sure if they're going to take an inside 'backer this year."

Recruiting has picked up slowly for Micenheimer, one of the best linebackers at the Palo Alto NIKE Camp this spring. He said Oregon State and Washington are interested and he's trying to take a trip to those schools before his senior season starts.

San Jose State, Cal Poly and San Diego State are others getting involved but Micenheimer, rated as the No. 27 inside linebacker nationally by Rivals.com, said if Stanford offered then he'd probably be close to a commitment.

"It's picking up slowly," he said. "I feel like I should have offers, I feel like I'm a good player, but my film last year didn't really show how good I was because my team was really hurting. We lost 16 starters throughout the season and not a lot of teams go through that. It's slowly picking up though."