RB McCoy hoping to shorten list

It isn't easy being LeSean McCoy these days. The star running back from Harrisburg (Pa.) Bishop McDevitt stopped counting the scholarship offers he's received long ago and is trying to narrow down a very large list of schools he's interested in. McCoy took a day trip to Virginia Tech on Thursday, the first of many visits he plans on taking between now and Signing Day. So who's in the hunt?

"I always see someplace that I'm down to eight or 10 teams, but honestly I'm still wide open," said the 5-foot-11, 204-pounder. "I just visited Virginia Tech and I really loved it though. I had a lot of interest in them before, but now it's even higher. I liked the area, the coaches were great and they think I can be the next Kevin Jones there. I got to speak to coach Beamer and he's a good person. Overall the trip was great, even better than I thought."

Jones, the No. 1 player in the country back in 2001, chose the Hokies over Penn State in what was a landmark commitment for the Hokies. McCoy is also interested in Penn State as well as fellow in-state power Pitt. In fact, there are currently 20 different teams still alive in the race for McCoy.

The best way to determine which schools McCoy still has interest in is basically to list them all. We did so and the following teams stood out to the nation's No. 1 back.

"Southern Cal, Tennessee, Miami, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma, Virginia, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Alabama and UCLA," answered McCoy when asked what schools he had high interest in.

However, there are nine other teams out there who are also in the hunt as well.

"Auburn, Florida, Pitt, Maryland, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Georgia, Nebraska and Louisville," said McCoy. "Those I would say would be medium interest."

McCoy hopes to narrow down his list to six or eight schools by the time the season starts. Practice for McDevitt begins on Aug. 15 and he has a couple of goals in mind.

"I want to win a state title and I am shooting for that state rushing record," he said. "James Mungro from the Colts holds it, I need about 2,600 yards to break it."

With more than 2,500 yards in each of his last two seasons, McCoy certainly has a shot. Back to recruiting, McCoy talked about a few random schools.

USC - "The running back situation seems good out there and I've heard it's nice. Right now I'm leaning towards taking an official visit out there. My brother is out in Arizona with the Cardinals so he'd be close."

Tennessee - "I really like Tennessee a lot, they play in a great conference and their running back situation seems good too. I want to visit them too."

Miami - "They have a few young running backs and a guy they really like a lot, so we'll see."

Virginia - "They've always been a team I'm interested in."

Auburn - "I don't mind that they've already taken two running backs. I saw both of those guys at the Elite College Combine and I feel I can compete."

Ohio State - "They have Chris Wells already, but they talked about using him like USC uses Lendale White and using me like my man Reggie Bush."

Penn State - "They're local and I like the coaches I've met."

McCoy will talk with his family and head coach Jeff Weachter in the next few weeks in an attempt to narrow down his choices.

"I know I need to do it, but it's not easy," he said. "Everyone tells me how tough it will be after Sept. 1 is I don't have it down to like six teams or so. I'm not so sure it's going to be that bad if I can't, so we'll see."