Titusville safety has a top three

Florida's Space Coast typically boasts some very talented football players and the same holds true for the Class of 2003. One of the rising players in Brevard County this year is Titusville's Renford Parkes. The strong safety is getting lots of interest and currently has six scholarship offers.

"I think I had about 30 schools stop by," Parkes said. "I got about four phone calls a night during May. So far right now I have six offers-- Duke, Stanford, UConn, UCF, South Florida, and Rutgers."

Last season Renford Parkes played both linebacker and cornerback and recorded 69 tackles, 4 interceptions, and 3 fumble recoveries for the Titusville Terriers. This season though he's moving to strong safety full-time which also happens to be where he'll be recruited to play in college.

"I'm just playing strong safety this year," Renford said. "I played linebacker and cornerback last year but this year I'm moving to strong safety. That's also what I'll play in college-- strong safety."

Renford Parkes attended UCF's one-day camp on Wednesday and plans on attending at least two more camps later this summer.

"Next month, July 14th through the 17th, I'll be at Florida State," Parkes said. "July 20th, I'll be at a college prep camp at South Florida in Tampa."

Parkes, who can run the forty-yard dash in 4.47 seconds, attended UCF's spring game back in April.

"I went to UCF's spring game," Parkes said. "I was going to go the Gators' spring game but we had a last minute change of plans. So I checked out the Knights that day."

Renford Parkes, who is 6-foot-1 and 197 pounds, has impressive grades as well. He has a 3.8 grade point average and a 21 on the ACT in his first attempt, so qualifying shouldn't be a problem for him. He has a good idea of a top three right now.

"Right now I'm thinking about the Gators, Stanford, and UCF," Parkes said. "Those are probably my top three. I'm keeping all my options open."

Renford said he would probably stay somewhere on this side of the country, but it's the Stanford academics that are really intriguing him right now.

"Stanford, I'm really interested in them because my academics are important to me," he said. "Stanford is a great school for academics. It might be too far maybe, I don't know. I'm probably going to stay somewhere on the East coast."

What are the biggest things he's going to look for when choosing a college?

"Academics are the main part," Parkes said. "The chance to help out right away or early in my career. Just like the school tradition, mainly the personalities of the coaching staff. The way they coach and stuff like that. And the football tradition. Those are probably my main factors when looking at a college."

Don't expect Renford Parkes to make an early decision. He's going to make sure he's seen a few places before commiting to one school.

"I'm going to take all five of my visits and figure out which one is right for me," he said. "I'm definitely going to take all five of my visits though just see where I'll feel most comfortable at."