Three on top for OL McLaughlin

SPARTANBURG, S.C. --Thus far, this week has been a productive one for offensive tackle Jonathan McLaughlin of Mauldin (S.C.) at the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas.

"It's going really good," McLaughlin said. "There's a lot of competition. I'm learning new things and the speed of the game is going faster."

On the recruiting front, things also are going well.

"Wake Forest, East Carolina and Marshall are my top three," McLaughlin said. "I take my officials on Jan. 13 to Marshall, and then I think the following weekend I go to East Carolina. I visited Wake already (unofficially). I haven't decided yet [whether to make an official to Wake Forest]."

Two schools have visited with the 6-feet-4, 288-pound McLaughlin this month.

"East Carolina came by for an in-home two weeks ago," McLaughlin said. "It was Coach [Donnie] Kirkpatrick. It went pretty good. We talked about everything with my parents. They want to try me at tackle and they were telling me about the schemes they have and everything. They basically told me how my visit is going to go, how the system is, and which people are going and coming back. Marshall came to the school the same week I think. We scheduled my official there. And they were telling us they're going to try to get back here."

Right now, those three are the primary schools involved.

"No one is in front," McLaughlin said.

When might a decision come?

"After the officials," McLaughlin said.

Keith Niebuhr can be reached at keithrivals@yahoo.com. You can follow him on Twitter @KeithRIVALS.