Texas defender visiting SEC school

Plano (Texas) West had a somewhat disappointing season in 2010, but there was definitely a bright spot for the Wolves with the play of Bryce Cottrell. The 6-foot-3, 230-pound defender had a strong junior year, helping to anchor a unit that had lost five-star defensive end Jackson Jeffcoat to graduation.

With his athleticism and versatility, colleges have shown a lot of interest in the standout junior. Cottrell picked up his first offer from Baylor last week but it doesn't look like it will be the last. He and another prospect who already holds an offer from the school are headed to an SEC campus this weekend.

"I'm going to Mississippi State this weekend," Cottrell said. "They have a junior day there. I'm actually going with a friend, DeVante Harris from Mesquite Horn. We're both going out there this weekend.

"They've been recruiting me for a little while. I called them and they told me to come on out there. They said they were possibly going to offer me. I have to just go out there and see what happens."

Cottrell feels like a few schools could be the next to offer at this point.

"I think some schools could be close to offering me," he said. "I think the closest ones would be Kansas, Mississippi State and Syracuse. Those three all seem like they could be close to offering."

As far as other visits in addition to Mississippi State, Cottrell plans to see a few other campuses this spring as well.

"I'm going to go to a spring practice at (Texas) A&M and I'm going USC for a junior day later on in the spring," he said.

"I'm going to go down to Texas one of these weekends. I am going to go there for a spring practice. I've talked to coach (Manny) Diaz. They want to come up and see me at my practices this spring."

With attention starting to heat up for Cottrell from all the aforementioned schools plus the likes of Georgia and Tennessee, he is not ready to name favorites at this point.

"No not really," he said as to if any schools were standing out. "I like everybody."

Cottrell could actually play a couple of positions at the next level.

"It really depends on the defense that they run," he said. "Most are saying they want me at defensive end but some other schools are saying outside linebacker, basically a stand-up defensive end. We run a 3-4 at my school so I play outside linebacker but it doesn't matter to me."

Cottrell was a first-team all-district selection this past season after tallying 80 tackles, five sacks, an interception and a fumble recovery.