Sam drawing attention on both sides of the ball

Opelousas (La.) standout Mandell Sam continues to draw attention his way. The 6-foot, 185-pound prospect currently holds offers from Memphis and Southeastern Louisiana, with one Big Ten program making a strong push as well.

"Minnesota is supposed to be coming by the school this week," Sam said. "I don't know what day they're coming, but they're supposed to come by this week."

In addition to the Golden Gophers, Louisiana-Lafayette, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, McNeese State, and Southeastern Louisiana are planning to drop by the school to check in on him. Official visits to Memphis and Southeastern Louisiana have been discussed but nothing has been scheduled.

When it comes to favorites, one program does have his attention at this point.

"I like Minnesota a lot," Sam said.

The Golden Gophers have yet to offer, but Sam feels good about the possibilities.

"We haven't really discussed it recently but I think I will before signing day," Sam said. "I recently checked how many they have committed at my position and it's not a whole lot. He said he likes to recruit down south because they don't get too many players committed to them from the state of Minnesota or the states up north. He told me he liked me a whole lot and he was coming by the school to check on my grades."

Minnesota is currently looking at Sam as a receiver and as a safety and several other programs have discussed opportunities on both offense and defense. Sam is open to both options, but he admits he does like one over the other a little bit.

"I like playing receiver more because I have the ball in my hands, but it wouldn't matter what position I play in college," Sam said. "I do like receiver more though."

As for his college decision, Sam does not have a definite plan but he does have a good idea about when he would like to arrive at a decision.

"Not really, but it will probably be like in January or something like that," Sam said.