Shirley lands No. 5
The heat is really picking up on the recruiting trail for outside linebacker Josh Shirley (6-3, 220, 4.53) from Fontana (Calif.) Kaiser. He picked up an offer from UCLA on last Friday and spent the next taking in a tour of the campus and watching the Bruins scrimmage. He picked up another Pac 10 offer today.
"I just received an offer from Arizona today," Shirley said. "Arizona is a good school and it is good to get another offer under my belt."
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"I loved it at UCLA on Saturday," Shirley said. "I liked the atmosphere there. The visit all came together and was really organized."
While on the trip he was compared to budding Bruin superstar, Akeem Ayers.
"It felt good to be compared to Akeem," Shirley said. "I think I could fit in well at UCLA and help out the team. I'm waiting to see what other opportunities I will have, but UCLA is a big interest."
Besides UCLA and Arizona, Shirley has offers from San Diego State, Fresno State and Stanford.
"I don't know a lot about San Diego State, but Stanford has great academics," Shirley said. "I am very familiar with Fresno State because my brother played there."
Shirley has outstanding bloodlines, his brother, Jason Shirley was a standout defensive lineman for Fresno State and is now playing in the NFL for the Cincinnati Bengals.
Shirley is also hearing a lot from Tennessee and Boise State.
"I really like Tennessee," Shirley said. "I like they're work ethic. They are hard workers and I like all schools, Tennessee has that drive."
Is Shirley planning on taking any unofficial visits this summer?
"I will probably take another visit to UCLA and to USC," Shirley said. "But other than that, I have no plans."
There is good reason why Shirley's name is becoming a hot topic among college coaches, he was his league defensive MVP, first-team all-county, first-team all-area, first-team all-CIF and first-team all-state underclass for his junior season performance.
Shirley racked up 123 total tackles, 88 were solo, he had 17 sacks, 12 knockdown passes and three forced fumbles.
In the wright room, his current bench is 355, squats 495, power cleans 285, dead lifts 605 and has recorded a 35.5 vertical jump.