ESPN West recruiting Blog

Posted by Greg Biggins

Elite offensive lineman Nick Rowland (Peoria, Ariz./Centennial) has canceled his last scheduled official visit and will make his college choice later in the week.

Rowland visited Arizona State this past weekend and was set to visit UCLA this coming weekend but will no longer take that visit.

"I'm done with visits and I'll be committing this Wednesday," Rowland said. "I'm not planning to do anything big and flashy, that's not me, I'm just going to call the coaches and that will be it."

Rowland visited Washington, Oregon and checked out the Sun Devils this weekend.

"I had a good trip and really know ASU pretty well already," Rowland said. "I've been there before and that's the school I grew up with since my parents went there so I'm real familiar with it.

"With the UCLA visit, I just decided I wanted to make my decision and end this. Plus they got involved too late and I just wanted to focus on the schools that had been with me the whole time. So I'll take the next couple of days to think things over and then I'll pick a school from Oregon, Washington or ASU on Wednesday."

Young enjoys first visit

Athlete John Young (Los Angeles, Calif./Loyola) took his first official visit of the year this past weekend to Arizona State.

Young is one of the more versatile players in the state and could play a number of positions in college.

"It [the ASU visit] was a great trip, I had a lot of fun," Young said. "The facilities really stood out and were very impressive. They have a great campus and I liked the weight room, locker room and just the overall football set up they have there.

"I go along great with all the players and was treated very well there. Osahon Irabor was my host and he was real cool but honestly, I thought all the players were cool and they have a young team at ASU that is only going to get better."

Young received some surprising news while he was visiting Tempe. His head coach at Loyola, Jeff Kearin, decided to resign for personal reasons and will not be with the team the rest of the year.

"Yeah, that was a surprise," Young said. "We had a bye this past weekend and didn't have a game but I guess it happened on Saturday. It's going to be interesting at practice tomorrow and I'm curious how the team will respond but I think we'll be OK. We still have a talented team so I think we'll be fine."

Young hasn't set up any other visits but said he has two other schools in mind that he would like to work out dates with.

"I want to visit UCLA and Florida State," Young said. "I'm not sure if those will be during the season or after but I like both schools a lot. UCLA was my first offer and has been recruiting me the hardest. Florida State has great tradition and I'm interested to learn more about them as well."

Ward injures knee, will reschedule visit

Offensive lineman Chris Ward (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei) was expected to take an official visit to Cal this past weekend. Unfortunately, Ward aggravated an old injury in the Monarchs game Friday night and will now have to reschedule it.

Mater Dei lost a heartbreaker in overtime Friday night to Edison (Huntington Beach, Calif.). The loss was especially disappointing for Ward who injured his knee late in the fourth quarter and wasn't on the field when the Monarchs had a potential game winning 26 yard field goal blocked with just 1:12 seconds left in the game.

"My knee got rolled up and I tweaked it a bit," Ward said. "It's the same knee I hurt my junior year [he missed three games] but I don't think it's that bad this time. They think I might have stretched some ligaments but I'm already walking on it and taking stairs. We have a bye this week and I'll be back the following week.

"I honestly think we would have won if I didn't get hurt because the blocked field goal came right through the gap that I would have been responsible for. We had already made three field goals that night with no problem so it definitely hurt not being out there."

As a result of the injury, Ward had to cancel his official visit to Cal. At one point this year, Ward planned to make his commitment in the summer but his decision will now be closer to December.

"I'm going to set up my visit to Cal and UCLA for after the season," Ward said. "This was the one weekend where it would have worked out to visit during the season. This whole recruiting this is pretty crazy.

"I was hoping to commit early and now it's going to be closer to Signing Day than I anticipated. I just need to take my visits though and once I do, I think I'll have a better handle on things and will be more comfortable making my decision."