Oft-offered Brandon Joseph still taking time with recruitment
MANDEVILLE, La. -- College Station athlete Brandon Joseph has enjoyed seeing a positive move in his recruitment this spring, and had another big week to close out April with three more offers from Northwestern, Tulsa and Utah.
Joseph is now closing in on 20 offers, but has seen a theme of schools with traditionally higher academic standards make up the majority of his list. Among them, he said that Purdue and Vanderbilt have shown him particular interest over the past few weeks.
“I’m definitely in contact with coach [Vanderbilt Defensive Backs Coach Marc] Mattioli,” he said. “I really like that Vandy is such a strong academic school and that’s going to be a big factor for me. Purdue is a good academic school too, so all of them are up there.”
Joseph only has a few offers from in-state programs and said that he’s not necessarily inclined to want to stay in Texas, but said that it doesn’t hurt a program like Texas Tech. The Red Raiders have given him his only offer from a Power Five program in Texas, but he has also taken a particular interest in Arizona, who’s staff largely has been brought over from Kevin Sumlin’s group at Texas A&M.
IN HIS WORDS
On Arizona
“Coach Sumlin and Coach (Jeremy) Springer have been contacting me a lot and I’ve really been liking that,” he said. “The first time he contacted me, he was reminding me that he was from A&M, we saw you in the state championship, so congrats on all that, so there’s that connection there and he’s been watching me.”
On questioning why the staff didn’t offer him while at A&M
“I wasn’t like that,” he said. “I was just glad that I got one from them, because that was like my first big big school to offer, so I was happy about that.”
On Texas Tech
“[Safeties coach Brett Dewhurst] basically told me that they were going to come down to see me before they offered,” he said. “After that, Coach (David) Gibbs and Coach (Clay) Jennings came and saw me work out and talk after, and that’s when Coach Jennings offered me. I’ve been in contact with the defensive coordinator and both defensive backs coaches since then.”
RIVALS REACTION
Even though Joseph has been stockpiling offers over the past few months, he said that he has no plans in place to make official visits, nor the desire to make a commitment before the start of the season. Prior to the two he picked up this past week, he only had a few Power Five offers, but he seems content to carry on at the pace his recruitment has been moving thus far and enjoying the process.
“I’m talking to everyone and I’m loving all of it,” he said. “I’m just soaking it in right now.”