Talented 09 back boasts impressive offers

Running back Desmond Scott has been attracting the attention of college coaches ever since his freshman year of high school. The 5-foot-9, 178 pound running back from Durham (N.C.) Hillside helped himself out even more with a stellar performance at the recent Friday Night Lights camp at Florida. With plenty of verbal offers already on the table Scott will have more than a year and a half to choose the school he feels is best for him.

Scott has grown accustomed to performing in the spotlight, but his recent trip to Florida had him wide-eyed.

"It was just an amazing experience," Scott said. "The fact that we were on the field that the national champions played on was great. The music, the people and everything about it made it feel like a great camp experience. There were a lot of great athletes and I had a chance to meet a lot of new people. The coaches did a great job interacting with us."

While the experience certainly didn't hurt Florida's standing with the talented Hillside back there's a long way to go and he isn't ready to name any favorites yet.

"At this point I have verbal offers from Clemson, NC State, UNC, UVa, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida and Alabama," he said. "They're all pretty even right now, I wouldn't say I have a leader. I just have to do a lot of research and find the one that fits me best.

"First and foremost I'm going to look at the academic programs at each school. Then I'll consider location, and whether my parents could come see me play with only about a day of travel at most. Then I'll ask myself: is this a good coaching staff? Are they down to earth? Could I see myself with them for four years on and off the field? Those are the kinds of questions I'll ask."

As a resident of the Triangle, Scott has had an opportunity to see schools like NC State, North Carolina and Duke up-close. He has attended basketball games at those schools and has made sure to get a taste of what life is like on each campus.

Hillside runs an offense in which versatile, athletic players thrive. Scott is primarily a running back, but at various times he may line up at wide receiver or elsewhere. He is also likely to spend some time at defensive back.

Scott runs the 40-yard dash in 4.47 seconds and shows great field awareness. His father has always stressed the need for running backs to learn to block, so that aspect of Scott's game is much more developed than most high school backs.

Up until Scott entered high school he had run track, and that is something he is considering taking up again, though he is unsure whether he would like to continue that at the college level.