UK first to get visit set with QB

Palatine (Ill.) Fremd two-star pro-style quarterback Scott Tolzien is ranked as one of the top 30 players in Illinois and the recruiting attention he's received so far definitely reflects that he's one of the Land of Lincoln's better prospects.

"I'm hearing from NIU, Western Michigan, Toledo, Kentucky, Purdue and Penn," Tolzien, who is 6-foot-2 and 174 pounds, said.

"I have offers from all of those schools except Purdue. I didn't really look at any of the schools during my season so I don't have a leader. I'm going to use my visits to narrow it down from there. I'll probably end up visiting all of those schools."

Tolzien said he saw his season come to an end before he wanted it to. He said his team was bumped out of the second round of the playoffs, and the loss was the only one the team suffered all year long.

"I made a lot of improvements from last year, and I just felt a lot better on the field," Tolzien said.

"Definitely I improved my foot speed and my pocket presence. I got sacked a lot last year, because I never knew when to run and when not to, or I would the throw the ball away if my first read wasn't open. I was a lot more patient this year, and I stayed in the pocket longer. Then if a hole opened up I took advantage of it."

Now he plans to take advantage of the recruiting process. It looks like Kentucky is the first school to line up a visit with him.

"I've set a visit up for Kentucky the first weekend in December," he said. "Chuck Smith is the recruiting coach for my area, but Kurt Roper is the main guy recruiting me.

"We have a real good relationship and he's going to be coming to my house for dinner next week, and then I'm going on the visit right after that so we should become real close over the next couple weeks."

When it comes time for a decision, Tolzien has a few things in mind at the perfect school.

"I think the three big things are finding an academically good school," he said.

"It can't be bad academics, because I can't play football forever. Then I'm also looking for a school with a good program, with good coaches and good people. Location of the school is also important. I'm not sure how much distance matters. It's depending on the school and finding some place I feel comfortable at."