S.C. safety adds Arkansas to his list

Greenville (S.C.) J.L. Mann safety prospect Pat Martin is already looking like he will be one of the most highly recruited safeties in the southeast. However, his offer list reflects much more than just that region.

Already, Martin holds offers from Duke, Maryland, Arkansas, UCLA and Minnesota. His most recent offer is one of the ones that he is most interested in. On Monday, the Razorbacks extended an offer.

"Arkansas sticks out because it's in the SEC," he said. "When I opened it up, it was a hand-written letter from Coach Petrino and he wanted me to call him on Wednesday. I like the fact that they have two running backs that went early in the NFL draft and I like that they almost beat Florida this year. That's real big. I watched that game. They are coming up so that's big."

Because the offers have been coming in early, Martin is already hard at work to find the pluses and minuses of each program. Last weekend he stopped by Durham, N.C. for an unofficial visit to Duke where he took in the early start to spring practice.

"It went good," he said of the trip. "The campus is real nice and the academics are real good so that visit went ok."

Martin has also taken in the campuses of Georgia Tech, Clemson and Georgia.

"I was scheduled to go to Florida this weekend but then Duke offered me a scholarship and they wanted me to come down so I rescheduled Florida to go to Duke."

Though Martin maintains that all of the schools are on the same level right now, he does know the specific criteria that will help separate the list.

"Coaching stability," he said definitively. "I want a coach that's recruiting me for a year and then education. Also wherever I'm comfortable with too."

Another major factor for Martin is NFL preparation which is why Florida and USC are also high on his list of schools he hopes to receive an offer from.

"They're winning year in and year out," he said. "They put a lot of guys in the NFL and that's big because I want to play in the NFL some day."