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football Edit

Two offers in for versatile lineman

It's a pretty simple equation. When you are capable of doing a lot of things well on the football field, a lot of schools will want you. That equation has led to Plano (Texas) Plano East offensive lineman Jake Brendel being a popular prospect among college coaches.
Previously a defensive lineman, the 2009 season was Brendel's first season playing offensive line. Not only did he make the adjustment, but he excelled in his new role.
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"I'm playing center right now and I'm kind of tall for center," Brendel said. "It's a very hard position to play your first year of offensive line. I was pretty much given this load to lead the offensive line and I pretty much had to learn the offense in a couple of months so it was a pretty tough task for me as well."
While center is one of the most intellectually intensive positions on the football field, Brendel was tasked with learning more than just his own position. Because of his versatility, the entire offensive line was fair game for him.
"I played tackle and I played guard and I played center," he said. "I pretty much played the entire offensive line position-wise. What's really good about playing center is that you really do need to know what everyone else is doing so if we're playing (Jackson) Jeffcoat, I would move out to tackle to block him."
With his versatility, colleges are projecting Brendel in a variety of roles.
"Baylor wants me as a tackle. Boise State is looking at me as more of a center. It just depends on the school and who's leaving and who they still have."
Currently Brendel has official offers from Baylor and Arkansas with an official offer coming from Oklahoma State pending an unofficial visit.
"They pretty much were saying that they wanted me up there for their junior day but that didn't happen because they had bad weather that weekend. They said that if I come up for their next junior day scheduled that there would be an offer there for me."
Baylor was the first school to offer Brendel and that offer arrived about three weeks ago.
"It was kind of a surprise slash relief," he said of the offer. "I actually didn't know a lot about them until I went to their junior day but I'm liking the program it's looking like it's on the rise."
Other schools that are showing steady interest include Missouri, Arizona, Boise State, Iowa, Iowa State and LSU.
The Madison, Wisc. Native has education in mind when deciding picking favorites for his future but is also open to the process and looking forward to seeing what is out there.
"I would like to have a pretty good education," he said. "I'd love to go to a school like Stanford. UT is always a great school. It's just that that's every boy's dream to play there. I really haven't seen many campuses. I grew up about five minutes away from Madison, Wisconsin so I just thought that all campuses were like Madison but it's not. It just depends on what fits you."
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