SoCal QB up to four offers

After a down year at the position, we're very excited about the crop of quarterbacks in California next year. There could be a handful of signal callers who will be recruited at the national level and one such player drawing major interest from all over the country is San Diego (Calif.) St. Augustine signal caller Chris Forcier.

Forcier, 6-3, 185 pounds is a player we've been hearing about since he was in the 8th grade. While scouting his older brother Jason (Michigan), who was a sophomore starter at Mater Dei, Santa Ana at the time, we kept hearing that Jason had a younger brother that was going to be even better than he was. Sure enough, the younger Forcier has really blossomed in the last few years and is coming off a big junior season.

Forcier earned 1st team all-state underclass honors this past season after completing 182-311 passes for 2,634 yards and 33 touchdowns. He also rushed for 415 yards and four more scores and led the Saints to a Div III San Diego section title.

Last summer, the signal caller was the top rated quarterback at the SoCal Nike camp and tested off the charts as well running a 4.51 in the 40, 4.12 in the shuttle and jumped 31 inches in the vertical. On film, Forcier shows that his speed is legit as he's one of the nation's best dual threat quarterbacks with the ability to run away from most high school defensive backs. He also boasts a strong, accurate arm and is currently hearing from schools all over the country.

"Right now, I have offers from Mississippi, Mississippi State, Oregon and San Diego State," Forcier said. "The one from Mississippi State just came yesterday and the offer from Oregon was a verbal offer after talking with Coach Crowton, the offensive coordinator.

"I'm also hearing from Florida, Michigan, UCLA, USC, Texas Tech, BYU, Clemson and Wisconsin. I took an unofficial visit to USC and met with Coach Carroll last Friday. They told me they're very interested in me right now and will be recruiting me hard. They want me to camp with them over the spring so they can evaluate me even more and that's something I'm definitely planning on doing.

"I also got a text message from Coach Svoboda at UCLA today saying he wants me to come up there for an unofficial visit. UCLA was really the first school to start recruiting me last year and I like the coaches over there a lot. Dino Babers is real good friends with my high school coach here and I like Coach Dorrell a lot too.

"If I had to name the schools I'm most interested in right now, I would probably say UCLA, USC, Mississippi, Florida, Michigan, Oregon and Wisconsin. I'm going to look at San Diego State as well. I like Coach Long and the staff said they're going to really try and keep the top players in San Diego from leaving the area. I also know one of their coaches, Brian Stark, really well. He's at our school all the time and our coaches get along with him really well..

"I've talked to all of those schools already and like them a lot. What they'll do since they can't call me right now, they'll text message me and then I'll call them up. They all have something unique to offer. With Michigan, people have asked me, why would I want to go and compete with my brother, but Jason being there would actually be a plus. He works so hard and that would make me work harder and if anyone is going to beat me out, I would want it to be him.

"Florida just signed Tim Tebow but they don't have much depth after him and I know there is going to be competition no matter where I go. With the two L.A schools, USC is a top program right now and has produced three of the last four Heisman Trophy winners. It would be tough to turn down a program like that.

"I don't really have a time frame right now as to when I'll make my decision. I would like to commit early, before the season if the right offers come in but if not, I'll just play out the process and see how it goes."

In addition to camping at USC, Forcier said he would also like to camp at a school in the Midwest and the South or East coast but is unsure what specific schools he'll camp with. He'll also attend the NorCal Nike camp in May. In the meantime, the signal caller has been doing an interesting form of cross training since the summer prior to his junior year.

"I've been boxing," Forcier said. "I started it before my junior season and found out it's great for your overall quickness and reaction speed. It keeps you in great shape, increases toughness and really helped me on the field last season. I enjoy it and will continue to do it this off season as well."