Steele working hard

Cleveland (Ohio) South defensive tackle John Steele is one of the top defenders in the Midwest. The 6-foot-3, 280-pound three-star prospect has been working hard both on and off the field.

While there's not much debate about how talented he is on the field, Steele admits he has to keep working hard off of it, if he wants to play Division I football.

"I have a lot of interest but I don't have any offers yet," he said. "I have to get a 2.4 GPA and a 17 ACT and I'll be ok. I haven't qualified yet. My freshman year I goofed up. I made like all Ds. I can't take summer school because you have to make Fs to make up those grades. I've just got to do good here on out."

Steele said plenty of schools like him a lot, though, for what he can do on the football field.

"I was at Akron last week, and they said they wanted to offer me but I'm not yet qualified," he said. "Michigan State, Akron, Cincinnati and Northern Illinois – those are some of the main people who are showing some of the main interest for me right now. I don't have a top school yet."

But he does know what he's looking for in the perfect school.

"A good fan base, a good student to teacher ratio, a winning tradition, things like that will be important," he said. "I'm in a foster home and my foster parents don't really get into the whole recruiting thing too much. It's mostly my coaches that are helping me.

"They've been really good. They've been very helpful. They've been getting my visits, taking me to my visits and showing me to coaches. They've been very helpful."

And Steele hopes to repay those coaches with a great senior season.

"I think we'll go to the state playoffs again," he said. "I think we'll go further and I think we have a better team this year. We were bumped in the first round last year. It was the first time our school has went to the state playoffs. This is the first time in 85 years. We're trying to progress deeper in the playoffs.

"It was the third time in history that a Cleveland city team went to the playoffs and only our first time in history. It was a very big accomplishment but like I said we're trying to go farther this year."

They're going to have some stiff competition along the way with a schedule that features Glenville and Youngstown East.

"I'm really looking forward to the Glenville game, because they've gave it to us every year we've been playing," he said. "Last year we got destroyed. They're the best competition. We owe them."