Schilling surprised with ranking

Bellevue, Wash., offensive tackle Stephen Schilling knew that the Rivals.com rankings were coming out on Tuesday and that he was a candidate for five-star consideration. However, when he left for school Tuesday morning, he still could not find out if he'd been recognized as one of the nation's elite players.

So he went to school without knowing and then finally found out Tuesday afternoon the good news.

"I knew that it was coming out, but I couldn't find out before I left, so I kind of forgot about it all throughout the day," Schilling said. "Then Tuesday afternoon a player from Skyline came up to me and told me congratulations. I didn't know what he was talking about, and then he told me about being named a five star."

And the news made Schilling, who is 6-foot-5 and 280 pounds, a happy camper.

"I'm definitely excited and it's still a surprise," he said. "It's a big honor. I wasn't expecting it at all. It's huge for me because when you start to think about recruiting, you always want to be a Rivals.com five-star player. I never thought I'd make it, though, so it's a big surprise."

A good one, indeed, he said.

Schilling said he's still not had a whole lot of surprises on the recruiting front. He said he was impressed with everybody that called him in the month of May and still isn't ready to single out any favorites.

He's already taken several unofficial visits, including a recent trip to Michigan and another visit to UCLA and USC. Because he is not finished with school until June 23, he's going to have a hard time hitting summer camps. However, he has not ruled out taking a few other unofficial visits to schools on his list.

And Schilling does have a long list. Programs like Arizona State, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, USC, UCLA, Washington, Washington State and many others still are under consideration.

"I'll eventually start to cut some teams down," he said. "I have to get it to a list where it's easier to manage."

But for now, Schilling is still soaking in the news about his ranking.

"I'm still shocked," he said. "But it's a good shock."