Recruiting on hold for Gardiner

Port Arthur (TX) Memorial CB Desmond Gardiner, like many recruits recently, saw football take a backseat to life with Hurricane Ike. Gardiner said he and his teammates started the season on a down note and just as the team was turning the corner, they had to take a break from getting back into the upswing of the season.

"We missed two games because of the hurricane, but I guess the season has gone ok. Right now, we're 1-1. We were trying to get things together because we had a few mistakes the first week. The second week, we did a good job overcoming that and erasing a deficit to win. It's a real distraction having to deal with the storm. You get so excited for the season and get started, and then all of a sudden, you have to walk away from it for a few weeks. I don't want to go through it again, so I'm definitely looking forward to getting back on the field. We're supposed to go back to school on Thursday, so if we go back, we should play Friday."

Much like his season, Gardiner said recruiting had been off and on over the past few weeks with communication problems around the area. He said there hadn't been too much worry on his part as he wanted to enjoy his senior season before getting worried about recruiting.

"It's sort of a day by day thing right now, but it hasn't been bad," said Gardiner. "I've tried to keep in touch with everyone that has offered, but communications been iffy with the storm. I was looking through my phone the other day when we finally got solid service and realized how many calls I'd missed. I'm just trying to focus on my season right now."

Gardiner hadn't had much time in recent weeks to follow many of the schools recruiting him. He said he was happy to see one of the schools undefeated in the early part of the season. Gardiner liked the style of play he saw from the Big 12 North team.

"I haven't been able to follow the teams very closely because of the hurricane," said Gardiner. "It's been nuts, but I know Missouri started very strong this year. I like their defense. They're very aggressive and they're always flying to the ball. I love to play aggressively, so that's a school that I could fit in with."

Before the storm, Gardiner hadn't worried much about recruiting. After dealing with Ike's aftermath, Gardiner said he had no problem putting his decision off even later. He said the coming weeks would help him decide where he would visit and then he may know what schools are at the top of his list.

"I haven't set anything up yet visit-wise," said Gardiner. "I'll do that after the season for sure now. I haven't decided where I'll visit either. I want to watch the schools over the coming month or so and then I can decide. I'm taking the football season day by day. After the past few weeks, I want to enjoy being a football player. When the season's over, I'll deal with the rest of it."