Three new offers for Will Compton
No prospect in the Midwest has blown up quite as quickly as North County (MO) linebacker Will Compton. After receiving his first offer from Illinois last weekend, Compton picked up three more in the last five days. Northwestern extended an offer "out of the blue" on Tuesday and Kansas followed that up with an offer later in the day. More good news awaited Compton on Wednesday.
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"I just got an offer from Missouri today during fourth hour at school," Compton told PowerMizzou.com. "Coach Pinkel and coach Yost visited my school last Wednesday and said they would have me updated on an offer when Coach Pinkel watched my highlight tape. They kept me updated through the week, then coach Yost texted me and said coach Pinkel and the defensive coordinator were watching my highlight tape and coach Pinkel gave them the go ahead to offer me."
While his name was not a household one prior to this month, the attention does not completely surprise Compton.
"I always felt I was a caliber of player that was up with everybody, but I didn't really get in contact with the big recruiting websites because I didn't know much about them. I started looking on the Net around my sophomore season, but my coaches didn't really know the whole deal," he said. "I would have been on there and evaluated a lot better by everybody before my junior season if I had it to do over again. I always felt I was up there with everybody. I felt like it would be a little bit longer before a bunch of offers would be coming, but I definitely felt after I started performing at these camps that I was on par with anybody."
The offer from the Tigers was one that was particularly satisfying for the Show-Me State native.
"Mizzou, definitely, when they offered me I was ecstatic," Compton said. "They are definitely toward the top."
Compton does not have a formal list of schools. He says he is wide open, but did mention a few schools specifically which, along with the Tigers, have caught his eye.
"Notre Dame is near the top because I have grown up a Notre Dame fan. I went to a Catholic school, my teacher went to two games a year and always brought me stuff back, so I became a fan," explained Compton, who first camped with the Irish last summer. "Wake Forest, Illinois for sure, I really like Illinois, Reggie Mitchell seems real down to earth when he talks to you it's like talking to a friend, and I would say Iowa and Kansas State. I like Kansas State a lot."
Compton has plenty of connections to many of these schools. Missouri and Illinois are the local flavors. One of the Wake Forest assistants, Tim Billings, coached one of Compton's high school coaches at Southeast Missouri State. Compton said the Deacons will visit his school next Tuesday and he believes there is a good chance an offer will follow.
In addition to all of those programs, Compton said he is hearing from the likes of Michigan and Ohio State as well.
"Right now I am just staying open and giving everybody a fair shot," he said. "I want to look into everybody, I am looking at all their websites and getting all the information I can."
Compton's next appearance on the recruiting circuit will be at Notre Dame's elite camp in early June.