Portis now up to nine offers

It's been an amazing month so far for Woodland Hills (Calif.) Taft quarterback Josh Portis. It seems like every week, a new offer rolls in and now the talented signal caller is up to nine official offers.

Portis, 6-3, 190 pounds, has come a long way since the first time we saw him throw a ball at the Nike combine at USC two years ago. At the time, he was best known for his amazing 42" vertical jump but it's his outstanding quarterback play that is now drawing raves. As a junior, Portis threw for 1,881 yards and 21 touchdowns and reminds us an awful lot of former Taft quarterback and current Cal Bear Cary Dove.

Portis has great athleticism, a live arm and works extremely hard. He's been working out with noted quarterback guru Bob Johnson to improve his overall mechanics and is also training with former Taft track coach and Olympic gold medal winner Quincy Watts to improve his speed.

"Coach Johnson has helped me a lot on my release and my timing," Portis said. "Coach Watts has helped me lower my 40 time down to a 4.5 which I just ran at USC's skills camp two weeks ago. We've worked hard on the first 10 yards which he said was the most important part in running a good 40 time."

Portis received early offers from Utah, Arizona State, Colorado, Oregon State and Arizona and landed four more in the last week.

"Washington just offered me yesterday," Portis said. "They came by the school and must have liked what they saw. I'm excited, Washington is a great school and I'm hoping to take an unofficial visit there over the summer. Marshall, Duke and San Jose State have also offered me. Things are going well right now. Coach Tedford at Cal came to the school to watch me throw and I heard they had a big meeting last night about whether they want to offer me or not.

"Oregon has also been by and Oklahoma is coming by tomorrow. LSU will be by next week. I'm hoping to have a top five named in the next week or so. I haven't been anywhere so I don't know what else is out there. I would like to take unofficial visits in the summer to Washington, Utah, Oregon and Oregon State but I really have no idea when I'll make a commitment."

Portis will attend the Nike Camp at Stanford May 22 as well as the EA SPORTS Elite 11 quarterback workout the following day at Cal.