Rivals250 WR keeping open mind

Dallas (Texas) Skyline Rivals250 wide receiver Carlos Strickland has seen offers roll in from the likes of Alabama, UCLA, Clemson, Oklahoma State, LSU and many others.

Strickland, who stands tall at 6-foot-4, 195-pounds, has years of experience watching the recruiting process play out. Just at Skyline over the last few years he has seen coaches arrive in droves to recruit the talents of receivers Mike Davis, Thomas Johnson, and Ra'Shaad Samples.

He knows it is a process and right now he is taking in everything he can.

"I'm pretty open right now," Strickland said. "A couple of schools I've been looking at are like UCLA, Cal, LSU, Oklahoma State, Bama is up there. But I'm pretty open right now. I'm just trying to look at everything, and see where it's going for me."

A few schools have caught his attention with the amount of attention they have shown so far.

"Texas Tech, they've been hitting me up a lot," Strickland said. "They've been calling. Coach Kingsbury and coach Morris, they've been sending me a lot of mail. Cal, they've been recruiting me hard too. That's mainly it right there."

He has also started to develop some strong bonds with a couple of college coaches.

"A couple of them," Strickland said. "I've been talking to the coach from Colorado, coach Walters a lot. I just met him a couple of weeks ago. He's been calling me and I've been calling him and we've been communicating a lot."

He has been busy with track which has kept him from making too many college visits, and he will be in Waco this weekend for regionals. However, he has been able to take a few visits. Most recently was a stop at Texas for the Longhorns' spring game.

"Oh man, I loved it out there," Strickland said. "I'm a Texas guy, a Texas native, so I got a good look at the team. They throw it around pretty much out there. I like the new quarterback that just came in. He came from…I forgot his name but he's really good. They're rebuilding down there with coach Strong. I like it down there."

Earlier this spring he was also able to check out TCU.

"It's Fort Worth, it's about an hour away so I can get home and come back whenever I really want to since it's so close," Strickland said. "That's what I mainly like about them, and they're rebuilding too."

His first stop after the season was to Oklahoma State.

"It was cool," Strickland said. "I got to hang out with my buddy Ra'Shaad. I got to talk to pretty much the whole coaching staff. They were showing me film about a couple of guys they had last year so I could fit in perfect with their offense."

It is safe to say the Cowboys have made a strong early impression.

"Well, I really like Oklahoma State because my buddy Ra'Shaad went there," Strickland said. "I played with him my sophomore year. I was on varsity, I started. It was a good experience learning from him, and playing on the other side of him. So it was a good experience with that, but yeah, I'm pretty open right now. I'm just kind of looking at everything."

Right now, Strickland may be keeping an open mind, but he does have an idea about when he would like to narrow his list.

"I'm going to try to take a couple of official visits and probably take two during the season and then take one in the offseason," Strickland said. "But I want to try and make my decision sometime during the season or maybe even the summer if I feel comfortable with a school. That's what it's mainly about, where I feel comfortable."

In addition to being comfortable, Strickland is also looking for a few more things in a future college home.

"I want to go somewhere where they have a good quarterback and a good coaching staff so I can develop myself in the long run," Strickland said. "Somewhere I can get a good education. A good fanbase. That's mainly it right there."