Rivals250 DE Roh talks top five

Scottsdale (Ariz.) Chaparral defensive end Craig Roh decided two days ago that he had settled on a top five from among his 30-plus scholarship offers. But it is not necessarily a final five.

"My current top five is UCLA, USC, ASU, Nebraska and Michigan," Roh said. "There is also three others I am still considering and they are Cal, LSU and Stanford. But they are behind my top five."

Narrowing it down to five was a tough task but the process is not likely to get any easier for the Rivals250 prospect as he has positive things to say about each school.

"At UCLA, coach (Rick) Neuheisel seems to be getting the program going in the right direction. It is a beautiful campus and has good academics," he said. "ASU is close to home. There is an opportunity to play early and I have a good relationship with coach (Grady) Stretz over there. USC, I have a good relationship with their defensive line coach. They have great tradition and I would be able to compete against the best. Good academics there as well.

"I really like the coaches at Michigan. They have a good family environment and weight training program. My dad and I have a good feel for that kind of stuff and you can really tell they know what they are doing," Roh said. "And Nebraska has really good coaching and great tradition and there is an opportunity for early playing time."

Roh is now set to take a harder look at his finalists but says his final decision could come down to a certain feeling he gets about a school. And it could come at any time in the coming months.

"I would like to take some official visits early in the season and if I get a good feeling about a place I might go ahead and commit," Roh said. "I would like to have a decision made by halfway through the season."

Roh also has a friend and teammate that is rising on the recruiting boards of schools across the county. Chaparral offensive tackle Taylor Lewan competes with Roh daily in practice and it has only helped make both of them better.

"We compete a lot in practice since we line up across from each other and we keep track of our wins and losses," Roh said. "I am a little ahead because I have a head start on him. He has only been playing offensive tackle this year. He played defensive tackle before he transferred here."

Roh has an offer from the home-state Sun Devils in common with Lewan and naturally has a lot of friends at the school located just miles away from home.

While familiarity is a plus, Roh says it is not likely to play too much into his decision.

"It is a little bit because you like to have friends and people you know wherever you go. But it is really not a big factor."