The Early Offer is RecruitingNation's regular feature, giving you a daily dose of recruiting in the mornings. Tuesday's offerings: The Tiger was already out of the bag, but that didn’t stop Deondre Clark from having his moment in the sun; it looks like the Malik McDowell saga is going to last quite a bit longer; and the defensive tackle position looks loaded in the Class of 2015.
Clark finally officially a Tiger
Oklahoma City (Okla.) Douglass four-star defensive end Deondre Clark wanted to wait until he could be surrounded by his classmates at school before officially announcing where he was signing. The only problem was the Tiger was already out of the bag: Everybody knew the ESPN 300 prospect was going to LSU. Clark sent in his letter of intent to LSU on singing day, picking the Tigers over in-state Oklahoma, but the school didn’t formally announce his signing because he wanted to have his moment in the sun with friends and family. With school canceled most of last week because of bad weather, Monday was the first opportunity for Clark to have his signing ceremony and he arrived in style, showing up in a white limo.
In a limo? RT @ScottWrightOK: Deondre Clark has arrived for his college announcement pic.twitter.com/87xorZsQFj
— Jake Trotter (@Jake_Trotter) February 10, 2014
More on McDowell
Malik McDowell, ESPN’s No. 60 player in the class of 2014, continues to be one of the more fascinating stories to follow after signing day. In case you’re one of the few who hasn't been following the storyline, McDowell announced for Michigan State last Wednesday against his parent’s wishes, and his mother has not signed his letter of intent. I broke down yesterday how it’s not required for him to sign the LOI to play for the Spartans, but it also looks like now there’s a chance he ends up somewhere else. McDowell's father, Greg, told Rivals.com’s Josh Hemholdt on Monday the family plans to take unofficial visits to Florida State and Ohio State in the near future. He also said Michigan remains in the picture. There’s still a chance McDowell lands with the Spartans, but every day we move further away from the announcement, the more unlikely it seems.
DTs wanted
When I first started covering recruiting more than 16 years ago, I asked then-Kansas State assistant coach Mike Stoops what was the most coveted position in the recruiting world. Without a pause he said defensive tackle. Quite some time later, the same remains true. One Pac-12 assistant said defensive tackles and quarterbacks are the most vital positions on their recruiting boards every year and because of demand you’ll see even average DTs with 20 and sometimes 30 scholarship offers. The class of 2015 is loaded with talent at the position with 26 DTs in the ESPN Junior 300, the most since 2013’s 28. There’s also some elite talent, too, with four tackles ranked in the top 15 of the country. The headliners are No. 5-ranked Trenton Thompson (Albany, Ga./Westover) and No. 6-ranked Tim Settle (Manassas, Va./Stonewall Jackson), but even Vaimoe Sekona (Encino, Calif./Crespi) at No. 295 has major offers.