Two team race for Sanchez

There haven't been too many recruiting surprises thus far but we could be on the verge of a major one later in the week. Mission Viejo (Calif.) quarterback Mark Sanchez had USC as an early leader but the Trojans find themselves looking up at a pair out out of state powers at the moment.

Sanchez, 6-4, 215 pounds and one of the nation's top three signal callers had USC leading huge as a junior and over the summer, even hinted that he could commit to the Trojans upon being offered. He was then offered a scholarship after an impressive showing at USC's skills camp back in late April but decided to hold off on making a decision.

"I just want to see what else is out there," Sanchez said at the time."USC is really all I've seen so I want to take several unofficial visits before I make my decision."

In the past month, Sanchez has done just that and two schools have jumped to the top of his leaderboard as a result.

"Ohio State was my leader a few weeks ago but after checking out Texas last weekend, now I'm totally confused about things," Sanchez said. "I got that special feeling at Ohio State and really liked everyone I met there. I think there's also a good opportunity to play early there since they really don't have an established starter right now.

"Then last weekend, Texas just blew me away. Several of the coaches were on vacation including Coach (Mack) Brown but they flew back in town just to show me around. That scored major points in my eyes that they would think I was that important. The facilities they have are like nothing I've ever seen before and I really clicked with their offensive coordinator, Greg Davis.

"Texas didn't take a quarterback last year and the top two guys on the depth chart are a senior and a junior. I'm looking for an opportunity to play early and I think Texas offers a great shot at that. It's really neck and neck between those two right now and I should have a good idea where I want to go in a week or so."

The obvious question is what happened to USC who led for so long earlier in the process.

"I'm going down there on Tuesday to talk with them one last time," Sanchez said. "USC is a great school and I love all the coaches there. It's not anything that USC has done wrong, it's just that I think Ohio State and Texas might be a better fit for me right now. They're still in it, I wouldn't be going down there if I wasn't still interested so we'll just have to see what happens."

Sanchez was originally planning to announce his choice during the EA SPORTS Elite 11, which kicks off July 21 but will likely make his announcement sooner. We'll have it for you as it happens and it could happen by the weekend.