Saulsberry Closing In On Decision

Although early December is usually a time when most players are just beginning to take their first official visits, Bellflower (Calif.) linebacker Antone Saulsberry has already taken three of his trips and with one more left to take this weekend, he’s closing in on making his college choice.

Saulsberry, 6-0, 195 pounds is a talented athlete who could play safety, linebacker or running back in college. He had a strong showing at the SoCal Nike Camp where he clocked a 4.56 in the 40, 4.30 in the shuttle, jumped 31 inches in the vertical and did 18 reps on the bench.

This past season, Saulsberry rushed for 1,043 yards and 14 touchdowns while totaling 68 tackles and two picks at safety.

“I’ll likely play linebacker in college,” Saulsberry said. “A couple of schools are recruiting me for running back but I prefer linebacker and I think that’s where I’ll end up.”

Saulsberry visited Washington State and Arizona State in November and just tripped to Colorado State this past weekend.

“ASU was my favorite trip so far,” Saulsberry said. “I love the campus, the weight room and facilities and the way the players and coaches interact with each other. Washington State was cool but I felt a little more at home at ASU. I liked Colorado State but they had like 22 other recruits on the visit. It was tough to get the same one on one attention from the coaches and it’s tough to bond with each other when you have so many players there.

“At ASU, there was only three total recruits and at Washington State there was just five. I liked that small number a little better. I’m visiting Oregon this week and I will actually be leaving on Thursday instead of Friday because we have our football banquet on Saturday and I want to make it back for that. I’ve heard that Oregon is a real fun trip and I’m looking forward to seeing the facilities and the locker room that I’ve heard so much about. My plan is to take the rest of the weekend to think about my decision and then decide sometime next week.”