Winston ends May with a flurry of offers

Muskegon Heights, Mich., defensive end Evan Winston picked up his first scholarship offer in late winter, and the 6-4, 240-pound prospect ended the Spring Evaluation Period with a rush of offers that now has him in double digit territory.

Houston, Syracuse, Cincinnati and Iowa are the most recent to offer Winston, with each of those four coming through in the month of May. Those offers joined previous tenders from Ball State, Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan, Marshall, Toledo and Western Michigan. Winston's own diligence helped kick off the recent string of offers.

"We started sending the tape out and I've been communicating back and forth with the coaches," he said. "I also had counselors fax transcripts and test scores out."

The offer from Cincinnati is one that Winston did expect to come at some point during the recruiting process because of his connection with head coach Butch Jones and his staff.

"Cincinnati offered last week and my take on them is it is a family atmosphere," Winston said. "They coached my brother at Central Michigan, so I know the coaching staff, I know what they are about, I know how they coach and I know what type of men they are. That was a big offer for me."

Syracuse is another school that has been recruiting Winston for much of the process. The West Michigan native has a strong bond with Orange assistant Tyrone Wheatley.

"Coach Wheatley is a great guy and a great Christian man," Winston said. "I am going to make my way to Syracuse to sit down and speak with the coaches."

Iowa was the first BCS school to extend Winston an offer and he had planned to make a trip down to Iowa City over Memorial Weekend.

"I didn't get a chance to make it Memorial Weekend, but I will be in Iowa on the 17th and 18th of June," Winston reported.

Winston plans to attend the Sound Mind, Sound Body Camp in Detroit later this month. He is not sure if he will attend any college camps this summer, but does plan to make several unofficial visits.

"I am definitely going to stop by Cincinnati," Winston said. "I am going to make my way over to Syracuse and I'm going to try to get down to Houston. That's one of the biggest cities in the United States and it's big-time football in Conference USA."

Winston continues to receive interest from more BCS schools, and listed Arkansas, Northwestern, Colorado and Missouri as teams he is in communication with. Schools that wait until Winston's senior season to offer, though, may be too late.

"I think I am going to make my decision before the summer is up," Winston said. "I won't step on the field uncommitted."