Shaw playing harder than ever

LAFAYETTE, La. - One of the biggest prospects in the South, quite literally, is Lafayette (La.) Northside defensive tackle Jarrod Shaw. He is a massive kid who is a dominating force on the defensive line and has picked up a couple of impressive offers.

"I'm pretty quick for my size I think," Shaw said. "I have real good balance and lateral movement for a big man. I come off the ball hard, but I need to work on my speed. Sometimes I have trouble catching a guy from behind. I can overpower guys on the high school level a lot."

The 6-foot-4, 344-pound Shaw attended the NIKE camp in Oxford where he ran the 40-yard dash in 5.49 seconds, ran the shuttle in 4.97 seconds, did 27 reps on the bench press and posted a 23-inch vertical jump.

"Right now Tennessee and UCLA have offered, but that's it," Shaw said. "Notre Dame, Michigan and Florida send me mail just about everyday. I get some letters and stuff from LSU, but most other schools are recruiting me harder."

Shaw spent a few minutes to break down his favorites for Rivals.com.

"I want to major in business and UCLA has one of the best business schools out there," Shaw said. "Coach Bienemy came in during the spring and told me that they needed some good defensive players to win a national championship. Coach Washington from Tennessee came down in the spring and we talked and the next week I got an offer in the mail."

Shaw earned first-team all-district, second-team all-Acadiana and second-team all-parish honors as a junior, in helping lead his team to a state title appearance.

"My dad used to watch LSU so I grew up a fan pretty much," Shaw said. "I went to their camp and I thought I did well. They send some handwritten letters and stuff and I would love to go there, I guess we'll just have to see what happens."

While Shaw possesses all of the athletic tools to be a very good college prospect some college coaches have noticed one he needs to work on.

"Some schools have told my coach that they don't feel like my motor runs all of the time," Shaw said. "I'm going to fix that this year. I never realized that it was a problem, but now that I do I will fix it. I want to slim down to about 315 to carry my weight better."