Shaq Washington lands first major offer

Maple Heights (Ohio) wide receiver Shaquille Washington picked up his first major scholarship offer on Monday, from Iowa State.

"It was kind of a surprise," Washington said. "It came out of nowhere, my coach told me to call the Iowa State coaches because they wanted to offer. They said they could really use me in their new spread offense attack and give me the ball in open space."

Washington said he has not had the chance to learn more about the Cyclones program.

"I plan on looking into them more over the next couple of weeks and see what I can learn about them. It feels good to get that offer. It takes a lot of pressure off of me. We'll see if it makes recruiting pick up more for me."

Washington said Michigan State and Illinois appear to be close to offering.

"I gave Coach [Pat] Nazduzzi a call at Michigan State," Washington said. "He told me they wanted me to come up to campus and that is where they would offer. Illinois pretty much said the same things. I should know in the next week whether I have an offer. Coach [Paul] Petrino said he just had to go over things with the head coach. Cincinnati and North Carolina are getting close too."

Washington tripped to Cincinnati on February 21st for a junior day.

"I sat down with Coach [Butch] Jones," Washington said. "He said they needed slot receivers like me pretty bad. I am going to go back there a couple of more times, and they said they are going to recruit me hard. I liked the campus there- not too big, and not too small. The atmosphere for the basketball game was great (vs. Marquette)."

Washington travelled to Ann Arbor last week to take part in a 7-on-7 tournament at the University of Michigan.

"I receive a lot of stuff from Michigan. I am going back up there on March 13th. I am very interested in Michigan."

"I have been talking to West Virginia on the phone a lot more, they say they see me fitting very well into their offense. And I am hearing from Oregon. I am going to attend their camp this summer. I am in contact with Georgia as well. Coach [Tony] Ball says he loves my route running. I have to get them some game film. Hopefully they pick things up after they watch my tape."