Perkins settles on a final five

The list of contenders for Rivals250 athlete David Perkins has shuffled frequently in the last month, but with three weeks remaining before National Signing Day the South Bend (Ind.) Washington prospect has identified the five schools that will compete for his signature.

The 6-2, 225-pound Perkins took his first official visit of the process to Missouri the weekend of Dec. 9. He has four official visits remaining and plans to take them to Ohio State, Oregon, Illinois and Cal over the course of the next three weeks.

"These are the five that I am going to focus on," Perkins said. "There has been a lot of confusion to what was going on and who was in the top five and who was out, but these are the schools I am solid with."

The next school set to host Perkins is Ohio State. He will head to Columbus this coming weekend, and has several aspects of the program he wants to check out.

"I want to get an overview of what they expect from me coming in," Perkins said. "Will I have an opportunity to start, or are they just limiting me to special teams? Academic-wise, what is their big major and what do most of the football players study?"

Perkins will follow up the Ohio State visit with a trip to Oregon the weekend of Jan. 20, then do a mid-week visit with Illinois on Jan. 23, 24 and 25. He will finish his official visit tour with a trip to Cal the weekend of Jan. 27.

Illinois has made a big move on Perkins' list in just the last couple weeks. New Illini head coach Tim Beckman did an in-home visit with Perkins and his family earlier this month, and the four-star athlete likes what he is hearing from that staff.

"They have a great coaching staff and I know their whole coaching staff," Perkins said. "Coach Beckman came in and talked to me, said he wants me to be the face of their program, I would be a big get for them and they want me at running back, but it's up to me where I play. They are trying to do big things, and I am a player they need to get closer to what they want to do."

Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel also has already completed his in-home visit with Perkins, and the Tigers remain a strong contender for his services. Cal is the most recent of these five schools to offer Perkins, and has earned one of his final official visit spots.

"They gave me a call last week and offered me," Perkins said. "They liked me a lot and I like them a lot too. I'm just looking forward to getting things started with them."

Most of the schools on Perkins' list are recruiting him to play linebacker, and he is leaning toward linebacker being the position he could see the most success at in college as well.

Perkins has no set decision date for his college selection. He plans to evaluate his choices following his final official visit and will announce his commitment as soon as he is sure which school he will attend.