Pead enjoying time on bus tour

Columbus (Ohio) Eastmoor Academy running back Isaiah Pead has been busy the last week, spending almost all of his time on a bus with other college football prospects as part of the Ted Gin Bus Tour.

While he loves every minute of the attention he's gotten from attending camps like Illinois recently, he's also starting to admit the trips are wearing on him physically.

"We've been to 10 schools so far," Pead said. "We go to a total of 15. It's fine. The exposure is fine, but it's rough on your body. I'm pretty tired from it. Actually seeing all these schools is making it harder to make a decision. All these schools have been great. They have a great campuses, coaches and facilities. Every coach is really a people person."

With an offer list that includes teams like Wisconsin, Indiana, Cincinnati, Louisville, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Marshall, Akron and most recently Eastern Michigan, it's tough to figure out what team is on top.

"I'm hoping to make my decision sometime during the season or right after the season," he said. "But I'm still pretty confused about what schools I like. This trip has made it even more difficult because I've seen a lot of things I like. I might have to take more time to think about what schools I like after the trip is over with."

Pead, who rushed for 1,696 yards and 24 touchdowns in 2006, said he was hoping to have a decision out of the way so he could focus on his senior season, but now that's not going to happen. Still that doesn't take away from his excitement about the 2007 season.

"This year we should do great," he said. "We're returning about 70 percent of our team. We were made up of a lot sophomores last year but they're more mature this year. So I expect to compete for a championship."