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Parish adds two offers; nears a decision

Heartland (Wisc.) Arrowhead quarterback Tom Parish was not exactly expecting immediate responses from college coaches when he sent his junior year film out two weeks ago, but that is exactly what he got. Parish's father talked about two recent scholarship offers and his son's plans for a decision.
"He's been offered a scholarship by Minnesota and the other night he was offered a scholarship by Western Michigan," Steve Parish reported. "He's visited three schools – Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa – and we've had a high level of interest from Harvard and Stanford."
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Minnesota, being the first school to offer Parish, evoked immediate interest from the 6-3, 200-pound signal caller and Parish reciprocated that interest with an unofficial visit to their campus last week.
"I'd say the young man is very excited. It's probably one of his top three choices and obviously that they came through with an offer that quickly speaks pretty highly," his father said. "He did go up and meet with the coaches at Minnesota on Friday of last week and was just very impressed. You can tell a program is really on the rise when you look at the excitement level of everybody in the football office."
The people at the University were what really caught Parish's attention. He was able to meet with Minnesota's athletic director as well as several of the Gopher's new coaching additions.
"Kevin Cosgrove, the defensive coordinator formerly with Wisconsin during their Rose Bowl era, made a big impression on him," Steve Parish said. "Tim Davis was the offensive line coach at Southern California when they won two national titles and his line blocked for two Heisman Trophy winners.
"Coach (Tim) Brewster clearly had a big impact on him. Tommy spent the day watching practice and standing next to Coach Brewster. He had his arm around him and was pointing out things during the practice. They really know how to make a young man feel welcome.
"The coach that had probably the biggest impact on him was Jedd Fisch, the quarterback coach and offensive coordinator at Minnesota. He coached Jay Cutler of the Denver Broncos last year and prior to that he was coaching Steve McNair with the Baltimore Ravens. It was pretty impressive watching that practice and seeing how quickly the team has energized under Jedd with the pro-style offense they are putting in."
Parish is also feeling quite comfortable with where his recruitment is at this stage of the process. In fact, his focus has turned to making a final college decision so he can return his focus to his teammates and their senior season.
"I would say that his decision making process is narrowing pretty fast," Steve Parish said. "I would say that he will more than likely be making his decision within the next week."
Parish led his team to a 12-1 record and a trip to the state championship game in his junior season
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