Rivals250 DB visits Pac-12 and SEC

Rivals250 cornerback Jared Mayden has been one of the busiest recruits on the roads in recent weeks. The first week of April saw the Sachse, Texas standout make his way to the Pacific Northwest and then turn around to see the sights of the Southeast.

The first leg of his cross country trip was to Oregon, where he was able to check out the Oregon Ducks and the Oregon State Beavers.

In Eugene, Mayden was able to get a close look at everything the Ducks had to offer.

"I really liked the trip to Oregon," Mayden said. "It wasn't really what I expected or thought it was going to be, but it definitely met expectations. I also liked that it wasn't a big campus. It was relatively small. It was pretty much the size of TCU. There was only a 15 minute walk from one side to another, so the campus wasn't too big. Then the facilities were nice, but they weren't over the top. I really liked it."

Mayden also had a chance to pick the brain of Oregon coaches Don Pellum, John Neal, and Mark Helfrich.

"Talking with coach Neal, coach Pellum, and coach Helfrich really the expectation is for me to come in and give them another element," Mayden said. "Most of their corners are kind of shorter guys and they know me if I came in with the other corner they have committed there they would have some bigger corners. We would both be able to come in and be interchangeable at different positions and be effective pretty much as soon as we get there."

In Corvallis, Mayden's younger brother Jalen Mayden received an offer from new head coach Gary Andersen, and Jalen also saw quite a few things he liked about the program.

"It was a very good trip," Mayden said. "Their practice, when I went to go watch it, they practice very hard up there. There's not very many wasted drills. Everything was point A to point B. It was fast paced, hard. It was a hard hitting practice. Even their quarterbacks were getting hit. That's something you don't really see in the spring, or just in spring scrimmages. They were getting hit in the pocket. It was just crazy how hard they practice up there.

"I can tell they're trying to bring some more structure to the program and just also build it up with some new things. I can tell they're just trying to get Oregon State to compete for a national championship."

Following the trip to the Northwest, the Mayden's made their way south to Tuscaloosa, Ala., where they were able to check out the Alabama Crimson Tide.

"My thoughts were it was pretty much as advertised," Mayden said. "The weight room, the facilities - it was real nice. Their practice had a lot of structure to it. It was from here to here to here. Their practice was intense also. You had coach Saban moving around. Coach Tucker was out there with the defense getting them hype. Then they all kept in a great structure throughout the whole scrimmage."

One aspect of the visit stood above the others.

"Really just being able to get in the meeting room and see some of the play calls," Mayden said. "I've been around colleges and I've never seen playcalls that were confusing like that. It seemed like they were doing NFL concepts.

"It started getting easier when one of the assistant coaches came over and sat by me and was helping me understand some of the different calls and different numbers and things meant."

Since he was on the Alabama campus from about 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. he was able to get a good look at several aspects of the program. He spoke to a couple of defensive backs about the competition and what was required to succeed in Tuscaloosa. He saw the Crimson Tide practice and he carefully watched the coaches.

He was also able to meet head coach Nick Saban for the first time.

"Coach Saban, I can tell he knows what he is talking about," Mayden said. "He's really straight forward. He really knows his football, especially the cornerback position. I think that's what he specializes in. He was really on it when we had our conversation about why then need me and the reason why I should come there and how they graduate their players and send players to the NFL."

Mayden plans to visit Florida State in June and he does not have any other plans with Sachse's spring ball scheduled to begin April 27. He plans to commit to his school of choice at the Opening in July and about two or three weeks before his announcement he plans to announce a top five.

He is currently ranked No. 133 in the Rivals250.