Phillips junior safety recruit Willie Jones (6-foot-2, 175 pounds) decided to give the University of Toledo his verbal commitment on Tuesday night.
"I decided that I was ready to make my college decision," Jones said. "I called up the coaches at Toledo and gave them my verbal commitment."
Jones discussed why he has decided to verbally commit to the Toledo Rockets.
"I just felt very comfortable when I visited Toledo a few weeks ago and it just felt like home to me. The coaches from Toledo just are great guys and I have been able to build up a great relationship with them over the past few months. The coaches are very much like father figures and I trust the coaches. Toledo is also a great football program and they also offer a good education."
Jones also hearing from several other schools but felt like it was time to make his decision.
"I was in touch with coaches from several schools. The coaches from Cincinnati showed a lot of interest along with Miami of Ohio along with a few other MAC schools. I really just felt like I was already comparing everyone else to Toledo and I really wasn't looking very hard at anyone else. I knew that I wanted to play and go to school at Toledo so why wait? I decided I was ready to make my decision and I feel great about it."
Edwardsville junior four-star ranked running back recruit Justin Johnson Jr. (5-foot-11, 190 pounds) made a weekend unofficial visit to West Virginia and came away highly impressed with the Mountaineers football program.
"I had a great visit to West Virginia," Johnson Jr. said. "I spent the entire weekend at West Virginia and I was just really impressed with the overall atmosphere and excitement level for West Virginia football."
Additionally, Johnson Jr. has a handful of upcoming college visits in mind.
"I'm going to visit Nebraska soon along with Louisville on March 28th. I've also been in contact recently with the coaches at Cal, Michigan State and Minnesota over the last few weeks. All of those schools want me to visit this spring so I'm hoping to see a few more schools this spring if I can fit them into my schedule.
Johnson Jr. also has a time frame in mind for making his college decision.
"My plan is to see how spring recruiting goes for me and I'm sure I'll narrow things down to a Top 5 schools list. I'm looking at making a college decision sometime this summer."
De La Salle junior outside linebacker recruit Aidan Ralph (6-foot-3, 200 pounds) made a weekend visit to Iowa State for a Junior Day event and came back home with his first offer from the Cyclones.
"I went to Iowa State on Saturday for a Junior Day event," Ralph said. "I also was able to add my first offer from Iowa State and it just feels great and capped off a great visit."
Ralph recapped his impressions from his Saturday Junior Day experience at Iowa State.
"I had been staying in contact with the Iowa State coaches quite a bit, and Iowa State has been recruiting me the hardest out of any school by far. Getting the offer from Iowa State was a big time surprise. I really was impressed with Coach (Matt) Campbell and the football program at Iowa State. Iowa State has some great coaches who are all pretty cool guys. I was able to watch a little bit of a spring practice and then we had our Junior Day program after wards. I was impressed with the facilities at Iowa State. Iowa State offered me as a linebacker and they feel that I can potentially play at any of the linebacker spots for them if needed. Most colleges like me as an outside linebacker so far. Overall I just had a great visit to Iowa State and I'll definitely look harder into them and stay in touch with the Iowa State coaches."
Ralph is also starting to draw additional recruiting attention this winter.
"Besides Iowa State I've also been in touch with the coaches from NIU and Ball State. I know that some new coaches started to follow me this weekend on Twitter after I got the offer from Iowa State. Hopefully more schools will take a look at me and my teammates later this spring."
Naperville (IIl.) Central sophomore wide receiver recruit Reggie Fleurima is one of the top sought after names in the Class of 2022 in the Midwest, and Fluerima made a weekend visit to Minnesota.
"Minnesota was good. My Dad and I talked with Coach (PJ) Fleck and Coach (Matt) Simon a little bit. They talked about how they could use me in their offense and also focused on how the University of Minnesota can help me with life after college."
So what stood out to Fluerima at Minnesota?
"The overall team energy stood out to me at Minnesota. They all seem to buy into Coach Fleck and the culture he has built at Minnesota."
What's next for Fluerima this spring?
"I'm going to visit Nebraska this coming weekend. I'll probably add a few more college visits in April."