Rivals250 DB Jalen Catalon gives latest on Arkansas, Texas & TCU

CEDAR HILL, Tex. -- Two things are very clear when it comes to Rivals250 safety Jalen Catalon’s recruitment: 1. Clemson is his top team, and 2. Baseball can be a tricky thing to work around in this generation of football recruiting.

Catalon made no bones about the Tigers’ standing with him on Sunday while at the Under Armour All-America Camp at Cedar Hill High School, but because of baseball’s overlap during the time many of his fellow recruits are taking spring official visits, he’ll have to wait till the fall to make his moves.

“Clemson is my top school,” he said. “I’m going to try and take a visit there this upcoming season.”

That will have to be good enough for the assistant coaches that planned on passing through Mansfield-Legacy this spring. Catalon said he is working out with his football team on a limited basis while focusing on baseball for the time being, but that seems to suit him, as there are things about fall visits he’ll be looking for that he might not have had a great chance to experience in the early visit period.

“Baseball is kind of getting in the way of that,” he said. “If I try to take officials, it would have been by the summertime, but for officials, since I want to get a feel for game atmospheres, I’m going to wait till the fall.”

With all due respect to Clemson, another team in orange is looking to keep him close by. He visited Texas in early February, but before this past weekend’s camp, he was at TCU for the Horned Frogs spring game. He said both are right in the thick of things as he continues his recruitment, along with a few other top programs.