ESPN Midwest recruiting Blog

Posted by Bill Kurelic

Tight end Alex Smith (West Chester, Ohio/Lakota West) Lakota West may end up playing his college football for the Cincinnati Bearcats, but it is not a certainty at this point. The 6-foot-5 and 225-pound Smith committed to Cincinnati during the winter, but he is now looking at his other options.

"I haven't de-committed," Smith said. "But I'm going to visit some of the 20 other schools that offered. I committed to Cincinnati early and I haven't really seen any other schools."

Smith is also concerned about a change in the Bearcats' program. Tight ends coach Mike Elston will coach the defensive line next season.

"I developed a good relationship with Coach Elston," Smith said. "With him coaching the defensive line they are not sure they are going to have a tight ends coach. They might just have the tight ends go back and forth with the wide receivers and the offensive linemen."

Smith played wide receiver his sophomore season. He moved to tight end his junior year and caught 33 passes with six touchdowns.

Smith's list of scholarship offers includes Penn State, LSU, Michigan, Miami of Florida, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Illinois, Indiana and Purdue. He attended Michigan's barbeque in the Big House last weekend.

"You have to be impressed with Michigan," Smith said. "I've never seen a stadium like that. Coach Rod pulled m aside and gave me my own private tour."

Smith will soon take more trips, and one of them will likely be to State College.

"I definitely want to visit LSU and probably Penn State," Smith said. "I want to see Miami of Florida and I would like to see North Carolina and North Carolina State."

Gaston adds Big Ten offer

Defensive tackle Bruce Gaston (Chicago, Ill./St. Rita), who was one of the stars at the Nike Football Training Camp at the University of Illinois on Saturday, picked up another scholarship offer on Wednesday.

Gaston landed an offer from Purdue to go along with his offers from Illinois, Michigan State, Indiana, Wyoming, Bowling Green, Western Michigan and Central Michigan. Gaston will attend Iowa's camp on Saturday. He also plans to go to camps at Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Michigan State and Arizona.

Carswell names top three

Quarterback P.J. Jones (McKees Rocks, Pa./Sto-Rox) committed to Penn State in mid-January. His top target, wide receiver Andrew Carswell, probably won't join Jones at Penn State. However, Carswell has plenty of other options.

Carswell has a dozen scholarship offers including Pitt, Michigan, Wisconsin, Stanford, Maryland, Boston College and Duke. He says Pitt, Michigan and Boston College are his three favorites.

"I'm going to Pitt's camp on Friday," Carswell said. "But I don't think I would commit. I'm probably going to hold off on a decision until sometime during the season."

The 6-foot-4 and 210-pound Carswell plays wide receiver and outside linebacker. He caught 40 passes for 600 yards and six touchdowns during his junior season. Carswell made 48 solo tackles and intercepted three passes.