Stills catching fire
Even before four-star wide receiver Kenny Stills (6-2, 175, 4.45) from Carlsbad (Calif.) La Costa Canyon was named receiver MVP at the recent NIKE Camp in Los Angeles his stock was heating up. He currently has 11 offers on the table his most recent shortly after the NIKE Camp from his sixth Pac 10 school.
UCLA has joined Arizona, Arizona State, Cal, Stanford, Washington, Boise State, New Mexico State, Penn State, San Diego State and Colorado.
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The reason that Stills is such a hot topic, his tape is making the rounds and it showcases his big playmaking ability that saw him haul in 58 receptions for 1,348 yards and 16 touchdowns. His junior season performance saw him earn all-state, San Diego Section all-CIF, all-county and all-area.
Stills wanted to make a statement with his performance at the recent NIKE Camp held in Los Angeles and making a statement he did.
"The NIKE Camp was great," Stills said. "I came into it with a positive attitude. I was kind of flying under the radar so I wanted to be positive and I hoped that people would notice me."
The NIKE Camp facilitators sure took notice, because the flyer from San Diego county walked off with the camps receiver MVP award. He also caught the eye of UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel who was at the camp watching his son Jerry Neuheisel work out with the quarterbacks.
"I don't know how to explain it," Stills said of his UCLA offer. "I wasn't expecting it (UCLA offer) and it lifted my spirits up that I caught the eye of someone important (Neuheisel). UCLA is definitely very much in the hunt."
"I have talked to them every day since," Stills said. "I got an email from a coach (Philip Rauscher) who asked me to call him. Coach Rauscher told me he was in a staff meeting and he rarely picks up a call when engaged in one, but took my call."
"It was my birthday and Coach Neuheisel got on the phone and said he wanted to something special for so the whole staff sang Happy Birthday to me," Stills said. "It definitely made me feel special and it made me feel wanted.
"That was something I was looking for in the recruiting process," Stills said. "It definitely gave UCLA a lot of points for doing that and it showed the genuineness of the coaches."
Stills doesn't know for sure if he will make UCLA's scrimmage on Saturday, but he is planning on making it up to the Rose Bowl.