Walls to take official visit No. 2 this weekend

The senior season of Cleveland (Ohio) Rhodes athlete Lakeith Walls has come to an end, and now the 6-3, 185-pound prospect is ready to get on with deciding where to continue his career. He will take his second official visit of the recruiting process this weekend.

"I'm going to Louisville on Friday. That will be an official," Walls reported. "They are real excited to have me down and I am excited to go down. Louisville is one of those schools I've been supposed to visit for awhile, but the schedules just didn't match up. It should be fun to go down, see the campus, see the players and see how they do in the game."

Louisville is one of close to a dozen schools Walls lists offer from, but they are also one of three schools currently sitting atop the three-star prospect's list.

"Right now I would have to say Toledo, NC State and Louisville are the teams to beat," Walls said. "They recruit really hard, I have a lot of interest in the programs and I am going to take a couple visits to those schools. Everything is still in the open right now, but these next couple weeks I should know for sure what I am going to do."

NC State was the first school to host Walls for an official visit. They brought him in to Raleigh for the weekend of Sept. 16 when the Wolfpack hosted South Alabama.

"I liked it and it was a nice, laid-back feel," Walls said of NC State. "Not too much, but not too little. I liked the way the team was around each other and it was a game weekend so the campus was hyped."

Walls plans to take all five of his official visits before making a decision. He has one other trip already set, and a good idea on where the other two will go.

"I believe I am going to go Syracuse the weekend of Dec. 9," Walls reported. "I am probably going to visit Oho U., and the last one is not set up yet. The teams I am considering taking that official to are Toledo, Duke and Northwestern."

Another contender for that final official visit will be Pitt. Walls made an unofficial visit to Pitt on Monday. He did not meet with the coaching staff, but was able to look around the campus and get a feel for the University's academic offerings.

"Today I was just looking at the campus, seeing what I liked and disliked about the campus and trying to narrow my list," Walls said. "I met the academic advisors on campus and went to the academic hall they have, so I got a good look at the campus.

"Pitt is definitely still in the running. Pitt is probably one of those schools I will consider an official visit to too. I just have to get in touch with the coaches and see their schedule. Coach [Randall] McCray I talked to not too long ago. Pitt is going to bring me in as an athlete and see what side I perform best on."

This fall, Walls played quarterback, tailback, wide receiver, linebacker, safety and also returned kickoffs and punts for a 5-4 Rhodes team. He finished the season with 1,699 rushing yards and 24 touchdowns on offense. He also had two interceptions on defense, including one for a touchdown, and also returned a kickoff 79 yards for a touchdown.

Boasting a wide array of talents, Walls is being projected to different positions by the colleges currently recruiting him.

"Right now it is about 50-50 for offense and defense. It ranges from linebacker to tailback, a safety-type and a slot receiver-type," he said. "I feel like I make more plays on the offensive side of the ball, but if I have to go in and play defense I will be coachable and do everything I am asked at that spot."