ESPN Recruiting Nation Football

ESPN Watch List offensive guard D.J. Foster (Lincoln, Neb./Southeast) has been laying low in recent weeks, focusing on improving as a player and taking a closer look at the options he currently has.

A player knocking on double-digit offers, Foster said he doesn’t have plans on making an immediate decision regarding his college future. Foster has offers from Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Iowa, Iowa State and Nebraska, among others, and he said other top programs are showing heavy interest.

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It wouldn't be fair to label Peyton Newell (Hiawatha, Kan./Hiawatha) forgetful or lacking in the smarts department.

He crammed for a six-hour study session Monday night in preparation of a college-level biology exam, boasts a 95 or better in all but one of his current classes and is on pace to graduate high school with enough credits to basically bypass his entire freshman year of college.

But even the heralded defensive tackle -- with a 3.95 GPA and a 21 ACT score -- can't keep track of all of his scholarship offers.

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ALLEN, Texas -- Some recruits have been all over the country and have taken visits to all their top schools. But ESPN Watch List defensive end Deondre Clark (Oklahoma City/Douglass) isn't one of them.

Clark hasn't ventured far from Oklahoma this year, and that won't change anytime soon. But he definitely will look at schools outside the state.

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YUKON, Okla. -- The priorities are simple for the Clark brothers at Oklahoma City Douglass. The player-coach relationship means more than anything else.

It’s the reason Oklahoma State was able to nab ESPN 100 point guard Stevie Clark for its 2013 class, as OSU coach Travis Ford and the Clark family have developed that tight bond.

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ESPN Watch List defensive end Peyton Newell (Hiawatha, Kan./Hiawatha) estimates that he has picked up seven new offers over the last two weeks. His offer list stretches from UCLA to South Carolina and from Texas to Michigan State. Twenty-seven schools so far have extended verbal offers to the 6-foot-3, 270-pound junior, including the Georgia Bulldogs who offered on Wednesday.

“Yesterday I got offers from Georgia and Michigan State on the same day,” Newell said. “So it has been definitely crazy. I think I have gotten an offer from every conference. It is overwhelming and exciting. And I am very blessed to be in the situation that I am in with being able to have my choice on where to go. So I am really excited for next year.”

The Bulldogs’ coaching staff may be the latest offer but Newell has been on Georgia’s radar for a while.

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The nation’s top undecided junior college prospect will remain that way longer than he orginally planned.

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Considered the biggest junior college name left uncommitted, four-star defensive tackle Toby Johnson (Hutchinson, Kan./Hutchinson Community College) is taking his decision to national signing day.

Johnson, the No. 4 player in the ESPN Junior College 100, said he will choose among Georgia, Oklahoma, Mississippi State and Auburn on Feb. 6. On Monday, Johnson hosted Georgia on an in-home visit.

“It was a good visit. They were making sure I’m good with everything,” said Johnson, who is rehabbing a torn ACL in his right knee. “With signing day coming, they were just making sure everybody’s on the right page. They’re still in the mix for me.”

Johnson said he still keeps in contact with Auburn defensive line coach Rodney Garner quite frequently. Johnson also is preparing for in-home visits with Mississippi State and Oklahoma. The 6-foot-4, 305-pound defensive tackle originally from College Park, Ga., has additional offers from Florida, Kansas State, Texas A&M, Nebraska, USC, Missouri and a host of other programs.

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"Chill."

That was the word of an ESPN 150 running back to Ohio State fans about his upcoming official visit to Missouri.

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Recruiting is never static, especially at this time of the year. Coaches are on the road and visits are being taken. That holds true not just for the Class of 2013 but for this year’s junior class, which is being wooed by college coaches trying to get a jump on the ever-quickening recruiting cycle.

Each day we find college coaches checking in on the top prospects for the Class of 2014. Such is the case with ESPN Watch List wide receiver Demarre Kitt (Tyrone, Ga./Sandy Creek).

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The recruitment of one of Georgia’s top remaining targets had been in limbo for a while after recruiting coordinator Rodney Garner left the Bulldogs to take a position at Auburn. Juco defensive tackle Toby Johnson (College Park, Ga./Hutchinson Community College) maintained that the Bulldogs were still his top team, but everything hinged on who was hired to replace Garner, Johnson’s position coach and primary recruiter.

Late Friday evening DawgNation received word that Mississippi State defensive line coach Chris Wilson accepted an offer to join Mark Richt’s staff. The hire has not been finalized, but a formal announcement is expected by Tuesday. Wilson was Johnson’s primary recruiter at Mississippi State and will continue to try to bring the talented defender to Athens.

“I think it is a good hire,” Johnson said. “Coach Wilson has put a lot of people in the league. He is a good coach, and I have a good relationship with him.”

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Quarterback David Cornwell (Jones, Okla./Jones) came out of nowhere to have an exceptional junior season and is now unquestionably one of the top in-state prospects for the Class of 2014.

Problem is, though, neither Oklahoma nor in-state power Oklahoma State have shown much interest. Cornwell camped at OU and had good contact with former OSU quarterbacks coach Todd Monken.

With Monken’s departure to become the Southern Mississippi head coach combined with little interest from OU quarterbacks coach Josh Heupel thus far, right now it looks like one of the state’s best prospects will have to look elsewhere.

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SAN ANTONIO -- It’s funny what can come from All-Star game weeks.

One minute a school isn’t even a blip on someone’s radar and the next, well, it's a blip that could grow into something much bigger.

Take ESPN 150 offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil (Lake City, Fla./Columbia), for example.

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ATHENS, Ga. -- Naim Mustafaa will be an early enrollee after all, but it appears as if it will not be at Georgia.

A four-star defensive end, Mustafaa (Alpharetta, Ga./Alpharetta) plans to early enroll at Oklahoma State and intends to start classes on Monday.

“I had to keep re-evaluating my decision and do what was best for me and I thought that with my body type, I would fit better in a 4-3 defense as a defensive end,” said Mustafaa, who at 6-foot-4 and 235 pounds probably profiled as an outside linebacker in Georgia’s 3-4 scheme.

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SAN ANTONIO -- In recruiting, players can hate the process one day, love it the next.

ESPN 300 defensive end Joe Mathis (Upland, Calif./Upland) has seen both sides, but is looking to make the process a past discussion.

Mathis is one of seven players expected to announce where they’ll play college football during Saturday’s U.S. Army All-American Bowl at the Alamodome. While many feel he’s leaning toward one school, Mathis said he’s eyed four schools fairly evenly.

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