Rivals250 DE visits four schools

Rivals250 defensive end Dakota Royer took four visits in the past week to schools across the East and Midwest. Where did the 6-foot-3, 222-pounder go and what's next for him from here?

"I was at Virginia last weekend and then I just got back from the Midwest on Saturday night," he said. "I went to Michigan State on Thursday, Notre Dame on Friday and Illinois on Saturday."

Royer started with his trip to Charlottesville.

"That was very nice. All the coaches were nice and it was a good trip," he said. "They have great academics down there and are one of the top schools in the country. I was with the coaches all day and talked to Coach Groh. He's a nice guy and a great coach. He seems like he has the program where it needs to be. I enjoyed it."

Royer followed with his trio of trips the past few days.

"They were all gorgeous," he said. "Michigan State is a little city. Everyone was going around on scooters and Coach D'Antonio is a great guy. He's down to earth and runs a strict program. You do it his way or there is no way. They have a good team and send some guys to the NFL. They have a great weight program and weight coach and overall it was a nice school. Jeff Smoker went to my school, so it was nice to see where he went."

The four-star prospect went on with Notre Dame.

"Notre Dame is probably the most gorgeous campus I've seen, it's crazy beautiful," he said. "It was my first time there and the architecture and trees, it's a really nice campus. They have great coaches. Coach Weis is a great guy. He treats everyone like they are his son. The way he put it, he doesn't want someone he can't trust in the basement with his kids. I thought about it and they don't have off the field troubles. I did get to hang out with a few of the players and the academics there are top of the line."

Rounding out the recent visits was Illinois.

"Illinois is a great football atmosphere," he said. "Coach Zook is a great guy and the coaches were clowning around with each other. They were relaxed and having fun. I got to see a scrimmage and everyone was getting into it."

With four trips in the book, what's next for Royer?

"On Saturday I'm going to Penn State for the Blue and White game," he said. "Then I'm trying to get up on visits to Virginia Tech and North Carolina."