Rivals250 WR Blacknall rethinking leader
The two highest-profile camps in the Southeast, and possibly the nation, of the last few days played host to Rivals250 presented by Under Armour wide receiver Saeed Blacknall. The Manalapan (N.J.) native made the trip to LSU and Alabama to camp at two of his finalists.
"I was at LSU on Saturday," the 6-foot-3, 205-pound Blacknall said. "I ran a 4.4 40 down there. It was fun to be on campus again. They love having me down there, and they have the greatest fans."
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Blacknall wasn't the only highly rated wide receiver in Baton Rouge for the LSU camp. Malachi Dupre and Speedy Noil participated.
"It was a good experience to compete with guys that play the same position as you like Malachi and Speedy," Blacknall said. "We're all still uncommitted, so we were all looking at each other, asking, 'Who's going to pull the trigger?' It was funny. We aren't rushing our recruitments and want to feel everything out."
Blacknall has a good relationship with all of the Tigers' coaches.
"The coaches there don't hold me back from anything," he said. "They tell me to do what I need to do so I can find the right spot for me. They weren't going to tell me to not go to Alabama, but it's a rivalry and they are going to recruit against each other."
Because he has been so outspoken about LSU being his favorite for such a long time, many thought that there was a chance Blacknall could commit while on the LSU campus.
"They thought there was a possibility that I could commit while I was there, but I made it pretty clear that it was still too early for me to make a decision," he said. "LSU is a great school with a great opportunity, but I'm still figure a lot of things out. As a wide receiver, I want to get out on the field and play. They have a pretty deep wide receiver depth chart and I know they are recruiting a lot of receivers, but I don't want to go there and be just a guy. It's a process that I'm still trying to figure out."
Blacknall left Baton Rouge on Monday night to spend Tuesday in Tuscaloosa.
"I was at Alabama all day on Tuesday," he said. "I've never been here before, so I got the campus tour, met every coach and got the whole tour of everything. Alabama is Alabama. It speaks for itself. It's another school that I need to pay a lot of attention to because it is so established. It's one of those top-notch schools that I need to weigh."
It seems like Blacknall was very comfortable at Alabama.
"Coach Napier and Coach Cristobal and my favorite coaches there," Blacknall said, "they are telling me that they want big-bodied receivers like me to go along with their offense and help get them to where they need to be, which is usually a national championship. I know Bo Scarbrough from the Rivals Five-Star camp in Chicago."
Having enjoyed his visit so much, there is a chance the Crimson Tide could have made significant progress in keeping Blacknall from LSU.
"I need to see how all the schools compare now that I've seen Alabama in person," he said. "I need more time for everything to set in. When I get home, I might have a different feel. The visit to Alabama is making me rethink LSU as my leader a little bit.
"I still want to decide before my first game," Blacknall said. "It could be any time before that. It could happen at the spur of the moment."
Blacknall has no other visits planned.
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