Rivals100 DT McLendon names top five
Vidalia’s Eric McLendon is one of the most coveted players in Georgia for 2004.
The towering lineman known as both “Big E” and “Bone Crusher” to his teammates has dozens of scholarship offers, but is beginning to narrow the focus of his list.
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“I have a top five,” said McLendon, a member of the Rivals100 Team. “It’s Georgia, Auburn, Miami, Florida and Florida State. I’ve got offers from all five of those, and right now it’s looking like it will be one of them.”
Anyone hold the upper hand? At last check, McLendon was leaning toward the home state Bulldogs.
“Nah, not really," he said. "They’re all on an equal level right now. But I really like the coaches from Georgia and Auburn. That’s what it will probably come down to – how I feel around the coaches and players, but mainly the coaches.”
Miami was the most recent school to offer, and the Hurricanes’ national profile has McLendon’s attention.
“You have to pay attention when they want you,” he said. “They’ve got a great program. A lot of big names come out of there, especially D-Linemen. I want to go check it out down there.”
Among the other schools to offer are Alabama, LSU, Michigan, North Carolina, Arkansas, Tennessee and South Carolina. He had also expressed previous interest in Notre Dame, but the Fighting Irish have not been actively recruiting him like the other schools on his list of favorites.
This summer, McLendon has bypassed the major camps scene in order to concentrate on his personal workouts and academics. He’s attending summer school in hopes of raising his core GPA and putting himself in a better position to qualify when he takes the ACT and SAT.
He did, however, attend the Nike camp and a team passing camp at Auburn this spring, and said he was “very impressed with the surroundings and people down there.”
As a junior, McLendon recorded 70 tackles, 15 quarterback pressures, 12 tackles for loss and six sacks.