Three-star QB has four at top of list
Nobody ever said the recruiting process was easy.
That's what Meade County
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(Ky.) quarterback
Powers is discovering as he balances preparation for his senior season
with jumping through the recruiting hoops this summer.
"I thought all these camps I've been going to would help me
determine who I liked the most," said Powers, who has camped at Indiana,
Louisville and Kentucky and will make a return trip to Bloomington this weekend.
"It's actually gotten harder. These schools are all great, and I've come away
from each trip thinking I really loved something about their campus or their
football facilities or their coaches."
Powers
(6-5, 200, 4.9) lists the Hoosiers, Cardinals and Wildcats with equal billing at
the top of his list alongside a fourth team in Tennessee. "I was supposed to go
down there for camp, but it fell through because I couldn't get down there. But
they're still staying in touch with me quite a bit."
He's also heard regularly from Wake Forest, West Virginia
and Northwestern, but admits he wants to stay closer to home. Indiana could have
a slight edge in the process, due to proximity and family ties. Powers' father,
Dan, was a tight end for the Hoosiers in the late 70s.
"I like Indiana a lot," he said. "That's where dad played
ball, and I've always thought that might be the place for me. I like coach
DiNardo. He's written me a couple of hand-written letters this week letting me
know how hard they're recruiting me.
"But I also
have really strong feelings about Kentucky and Louisville. They're both close to
home, they have good coaches that I have developed relationships with, and I
love their campuses. It's just hard for me to say one school is ahead of the
other right now."
He said Kentucky has everything
he is looking for in a college program, but the Wildcats are in a bind due to
NCAA sanctions which limit available scholarships to 18 this season. They plan
on signing one quarterback in February, and that official offer has been made to
Powers' district rival, Andre Woodson, who is considered the state's top
prospect at the position and one of the best in the nation.
"They've been real honest with me about it," Powers said.
"I appreciate that, and I understand because I've known Andre for a long time.
We play in the same district, and we've been on the same AAU basketball team in
the past. He's an awesome player, and he deserves all the attention he's
getting. We have a good, healthy rivalry. I'll always root for him.
"But with that situation, I'm clearly Kentucky's No. 2 guy.
With Indiana and Louisville, I'm at the top of their lists, so that does make a
difference."
Powers, who threw for 1,129 yards and
11 touchdowns while calling signals for a run-oriented team as a junior, has yet
to receive his first scholarship offer, but that hasn't dampened his spirits.
"Not at all," he said. "Of course I'd love to have a bunch
right now, but all of these teams are pretty much saying the same thing; they
want to see me play this year before deciding anything because we didn't throw
the ball much last year. They know I have potential, but they want to see me
throw it a lot more.
"That's fine, though, because
we're probably going to throw it 75 percent of the time this year. We lost some
good running backs, but picked up a bunch of good receivers. I recruited some
guys from the basketball team, and they've looked great. We were up at the
Georgetown College camp, and they said we had the best passing offense they had
seen."