Three-star WR has a top two

Bakersfield (Cailf.) West three-star athlete Ryan Mathews has had several solid scholarship offers on his resume for quite some time. But now that the summer is in its peak, the No. 98 player in California has a few favorites in mind, too.

"I'm hearing from Arizona State, Colorado, San Diego State, Washington, Nevada, and UCLA," Mathews, who is 5-foot-11 and 198 pounds, said. "Colorado, Arizona and Nevada have offered.

"My top two are probably Arizona State and UCLA. ASU is a dominant school and they're pretty persistent. I have a friend named Brandon Smith who goes there already and he's taught me a lot. UCLA, I've just always liked them while I was growing up. I don't hear from them as much as I do the other schools, but they told me if I had a good season they'd take a hard look at me. If UCLA offered I'd most likely end up there."

But at this point, the Bruins – who are limited on scholarship offers this season – haven't offered and that means Mathews will have to continue to play the field and look at other options.

"I went to the Stanford camp and that's the only one I've been to," he said. "I've had summer school so it's been hard to visit camps and everything. I'm probably done with the camps for the summer. I'll just keep working out with my team."

Mathews said he's already got a few things in mind when looking for the perfect school. Rivals.com ranks him as an athlete, but if you ask him, he's rather play running back in college.

"My main priority in looking at a school is if they'll let me play running back," he said. "It's the position I'm most skilled at. Then I'll look at how good the team is and everything like that."

"Teams either want me for outside linebacker or running back. I'd like to play running back. I've got good vision and balance. I have consistent speed and I've been playing there since I was seven-years-old so I know the position and the speed of the game. I'm more well-rounded than most players are at running back."