Poates another Rancho Verde target
During the spring evaluation period, most coaches who paid a visit to Moreno Valley (Calif.) Rancho Verde came to catch a glimpse of prized defensive end prospect Ronald Powell, the 12th-best player in the nation according to Rivals.com.
But Rancho Verde has several other juniors that are earning attention from schools, and one of them is offensive lineman Avery Poates.
Advertisement
"Things are going good," he said. "I have offers from Nevada, New Mexico and UTEP."
Poates said he talks to UTEP the most of those schools and has already established a good relationship with Miners co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Bob Connelly.
"I like their football program and their coaches," he said. "They have really a really good coaching staff. We went out there for a passing tournament a couple weeks ago, and I thought their campus was real nice."
Though Poates said he's in no hurry to make a decision, he considers UTEP his favorite school at this point.
"I'm leaning more towards them at this point," he said. "I'm still trying to look and see everything else, since I have another year of recruiting left. They're first right now, but we'll see how everything else goes."
Poates said an offer from Arizona could be on the way.
"I was talking to coach Tim Kish, and he said he's close to offering and he wants to wait until next season and see a couple more games before he makes his final decision of whether he'll offer."
Because he's taking summer school, Poates hasn't had time to attend any camps. He said he would like to take visits to Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada in the near future.
Poates, who is 6-foot-4 and weighs 305 pounds, plays tackle for Rancho Verde but projects out as a guard, where he's a three-star prospect.