RECRUITING: Little’s phone rings early, often

Last Friday, when Chris Litlte’s phone phone rang early in the morning, the love-fest started. It didn’t take long for all the coaches on his list of favorites to call the big offensive tackle from Jeffersonville (GA) Twiggs County once the new contact period for college coaches officially began. He answered his phone early and often throughout the day.

“My first call was from Notre Dame at 7:30 Friday morning … I was pulling up into the school parking lot,” the 6-5, 320 pound Chris Little said. “It surprised me a little bit. It just shows me how much the schools want me.

“Later that day I got one from Coach (John) Hevesy at Florida. He didn’t say a lot, but Coach (Urban) Meyer wanted to talk to me because he hadn’t talked to me in a while. He wished me good luck for the game. Georgia Tech and Georgia called me that night. FSU called me (Tuesday).”

That same night he played in his first game of the season and dominated the line of scrimmage.

“We are 1-0 for the season and in our region so we started out pretty good,” he said. “I had about 9-10 pancakes the first game. Last year I had about seven or eight a game, so I stepped it up a bit.”

On Saturday he was able to sit and watch a few of his favorite teams play. Little lists Florida, Notre Dame, Georgia, Clemson, and Florida State as his five favorites and the schools most likely to get an official visit. He talked a little about watching some on Saturday.

“I watched the Georgia Tech and Notre Dame game,” he said. “It was a good game, but I was disappointed in Notre Dame a little bit. There wasn’t too much of an offensive performance going on. I was looking for them to come out with it on offense, but they didn’t do too much. The passing game was pretty good, Brady Quinn threw for 246 if I’m not mistaken, but the offensive line didn’t get too much movement for the running backs.

“I watched Florida State and Miami last night. FSU also disappointed me in the rushing game with one yard rushing for the entire game. Basically it was a defensive game all night. I watched a little bit of the Georgia game. I liked it a lot. They had really good special teams.”

Little had something to say about why he likes his five favorites.

NOTRE DAME: “I really like their graduation rate. They are second in the nation behind the Navy. Coach Weis has some great connections in the pros. All of their games are televised.”

FLORIDA: “I just like The Swamp. It is the perfect place to play in the country and I would just love to play in that.”

GEORGIA: “Being the home state team, I need to have one in there. It’s a good program.”

FLORIDA STATE: “I grew up a Florida State fan. It just made an impression on me when I was young and I have paid attention since. When I was young people told me I would have a body of the FSU linemen when I get older. I watched their games and saw how big they were and saw them getting after it.”

CLEMSON: “I have some old teammates up there and it will be good to play with them again.”

He is starting to make his official visits this weekend and he will follow that up with a couple of unofficials.

“I am going to ND this weekend,” he said. He’ll be there when the Fighting Irish clash with Penn State.

“I am going to FSU (vs. Clemson) for an unofficial on the 16th,” he added. “I am going to try to make the Clemson-(North) Carolina game the week after that and I am trying to schedule an official visit on January 12-14 to Clemson.”

The Gators haven’t locked down a time for his official visit just yet. Prior to the official visit, he’s probably going to take in a game at The Swamp.

“I haven’t had a chance to figure out Florida’s schedule but I told Coach Hevesy I would try and make a home game,” Little said. “I also told him I would probably take my official in December.”

He is putting together a plan for when he makes his commitment. Before he makes that decision, he plans to make an official visit to all of his favorite schools.

“I am going to take all my officials,” he said. “In the end it will be which academic programs I like the best and as far as unofficial visits it will be about the best game atmosphere.”

Chris Little is off to a fast start in the classroom doing well in all of his classes. He actually has a light load taking three core classes and an elective, so he can spend time looking at the schools that are looking at him. That is a good thing, because he will most likely be inundated with those schools’ interest in him.