Swain swears off naming favorites

When it comes to the recruiting process, Jimmie Swain is learning as he goes. At first, he didn't mind naming frontrunners. He'd do it time and again only to have things change a week later.

So as the Lee's Summit linebacker left Kansas State's campus, scholarship offer in hand, following his unofficial visit on Wednesday afternoon, he changed things up a bit. He opted out of naming a leader.

And, hey, he has his reasons.

"Every time I name my top team, it's always biased because it's always who I see the latest, you know? It's freshest in my mind, so I think they're the best," Swain said. "I'd like to really make sure that I check out all the schools I'm seriously considering before I say anything like that anymore."

Swain doesn't mind singling out the schools he is "seriously considering," though. There's no singular frontrunner is his recruitment. There is, however, a list a of programs that have a serious draw.

He cautions that things could change as he takes more visits. He also makes it known that his list is fluid. But for now …

"At this very moment, it's K-State, Iowa, Nebraska and TCU," Swain said. "Just based on my thoughts right now, those are the schools I'm really going after and taking under serious consideration. That can always change."

Swain's visit to K-State was a run-of-the-mill unofficial. There were tours, meeting with academic advisors and conversations with coaches. Bill Snyder was the man who extended the scholarship offer. And while Swain's tour of Manhattan wasn't his first, standing face to face with K-State's celebrated head coach gave it a different feel than the ones that preceded it.

"It was real nice," Swain said. "I had a good time. I had been there for a game before, but I've never got to meet any of the coaches or Coach Snyder or anything like that before. I did all of that today. It was real nice."

Swain plans to visit TCU on Mar. 23. The immediate future, however, will be about the SEC, as Missouri is on the docket for Thursday. Swain is admittedly uneducated when it comes to the Tigers and Gary Pinkel's program. Then, that's the whole reason these visits exist.

"I really don't know much other than they are in the SEC and this year was their first year there. I don't know much about the staff or the facilitates or any of that. I'm going to learn.

Swain says geographic location will not play a part in his decision. Close to home and thousands of miles away are all the same to him. He notes that his search will instead be all about "finding the right fit." He also declines to venture a guess on which school may be the next to offer.