ESPN Recruiting Nation Football

Usually if a prospect has a dozen offers, he is a known commodity in recruiting circles. That is not the case with Rasaan Stewart (Collegeville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley), however. Stewart remains under the radar despite his double-digit offers.

College programs are aware of the 2014 athlete, though. Three schools top his early list, too.

“Definitely Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Villanova, those are the schools I have a connection with the coaches,” Stewart said.

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Malik Hooker (New Castle, Pa./New Castle) is not new to football. He was just new to high school football.

The 2014 athlete that exploded onto the recruiting scene a month ago played football back in eighth grade but dropped it in high school to pursue basketball. He made his way back to the gridiron before his junior season, and it paid huge dividends. Hooker has added double-digit offers, and the majority have come since April.

“I’m grateful for it because not a lot of people can say they haven’t played football since eighth grade and come back one year and get scholarships or as many big scholarships I have,” Hooker said.

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It was the first practice of the season, and Nicholas Abramson's youth football coach went up and down the line asking his players who their favorite athletes were. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and all the usual suspects were rattled off.

Then his coach reached his young quarterback, no more than 8 years old. His answer befuddled his coach, shocked he even knew a player from a half-century ago.

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LSU and Ohio State were the top two for ESPN 150 wide receiver Saeed Blacknall. Now the two are bookends for the Manalapan (N.J.) High School star's top five.

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Not much has developed recently in the recruitment of four-star athlete Montae Nicholson (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway), but that figures to change in the coming weeks.

The 6-foot-2, 195-pound receiver/safety has not made too many recent recruiting visits, but he will begin doing that this summer before working toward a decision.

“I’m in the same place except it’s closer to summer, so I’ll take a bunch of unofficial visits and see which ones are best for me,” Nicholson said, “and then as soon as I can take my officials I will and my decision will be after I take my officials.”

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It was a Thursday night in late April and Alex Bookser (Pittsburgh/Mount Lebanon) was watching the NFL draft. A 6-foot-6, 295-pound prospect, Bookser is being recruited as a lineman on both sides of the ball.

Bookser was an offensive lineman by the end of the night Thursday.

“Ever since I saw the draft I decided to go O-line,” said Bookser, referring to the run on tackles in the first round, including three among the first five picks. “That was the biggest draft I’ve ever seen, so I was like if I can get that far it’ll definitely pay off.”

With more than 20 offers to his name, Bookser was already being recruited mostly as an offensive tackle, where he is ranked No. 14 nationally. As a two-way player for Mount Lebanon, Bookser likes defense a little more because he can play with a little more emotion on the defensive line. He understands why coaches project him best on offense, though.

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Quips go to Pitt.

That is the expression in Western Pennsylvania. The elite prospects from talent-rich Aliquippa (Pa.) High almost exclusively go to nearby Pittsburgh to star for the Panthers. Jonathan Baldwin, Tommie Campbell and Darrelle Revis are all NFL players who came through Aliquippa and then Pitt.

So four-star athlete and ESPN 150 member Dravon Henry feels the pressure to stay close to home. In fact, Henry is related to Revis and former NFL lineman Sean Gilbert, who also went the route of Aliquippa to Pitt.

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At the end of the March, Washington (Pa.) High running back Shai McKenzie cut his list of more than 30 offers to 15. He's just about ready to snip that list in half once again.

The 5-foot-11, 212-pound back is looking to name a top seven soon, most likely after summer trips to Georgia, Georgia Tech and possibly Florida State. He knows two teams that are in great shape to make the cut already.

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The recruiting process is only beginning for Steven Gonzalez (Union City, N.J./Union City), but he knows what he wants. He is going to sign with a school close to his family.

That does not mean the 2015 offensive tackle is already Rutgers bound, however. Gonzalez has a large number of his family in Florida, and any number of states along the Atlantic Coast are close enough, he said.

One of the latest offers for Gonzalez, who has five total, came from Virginia. The Cavaliers offered Tuesday.

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Sometimes all it takes is one offer. That is what Terrence Harris (Paramus, N.J./Paramus Catholic) is hoping for.

The 6-foot-2, 245-pound defensive end earned offer No. 3 on Monday from Iowa, but it was his first from a BCS school.

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Derrick Nnadi just laughs off the pressure from his friend who just happens to be a highly rated prospect.

"I try to avoid him," the defensive tackle from Virginia Beach (Va.) Ocean Lakes joked when asked about his weekly workouts with five-star Virginia safety Quin Blanding from Virginia Beach (Va.) Bayside.

Don't get Nnadi wrong. Blanding, isn't obnoxious. He's just persistent. Since committing to Virginia in February, Blanding, who is the No. 11 prospect in the ESPN 150, has been trying to get Nnadi to join him.

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Quin Blanding has vowed he won't be the last.

The five-star safety from Virginia Beach (Va.) Bayside has said he'll do everything he can to reel in more prospects to sign with Virginia, where he committed in February.

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