According to Rivals.com... and 247Sports.com... and Scout.com, Georgia high school defensive end Robert Nkemdiche is the top-rated prospect in the Class of 2013.
Back in March, the lineman had set a date of May 18 to make an announcement on where he would verbally commit to playing his college ball in 2013 and beyond. Less than two weeks ahead of that announcement, however, Nkemdiche has pushed the non-binding decision off until well into the future.
Nkemdiche on Monday told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he’s simply not ready to pull the trigger on a decision that will be the most important of his young life.
“I’m just not ready yet,” Nkemdiche said. “This is one of the biggest decisions of my life. I want to go see some new places, and go back to some other places to spend more time with the coaches and to check out the campuses. It’s a big decision, and I want to get it right.”
As for when Nkemdiche will make his highly sought after commitment? The Journal-Constitution surmised that it likely won’t happen until sometime around signing day in February of next year.
That appears to be a highly likely timeline as Nkemdiche wants to take visits to other schools, but doesn’t want to take them until after his upcoming senior season of high school football is completed.
“I’m probably going to try to take all my official visits, and then pick the best school,” Nkemdiche said. “I probably won’t take any visits during the season because I want to stay focused on my main goal — and that’s helping our team win another state championship. I’ll probably wait until after the season and then go visit schools and stuff.”
Suffice to say, the 6-5, 260-pound Nkemdiche has myriad suitors, with Alabama and Ole Miss -- his brother, redshirt freshman defensive back Denzel Nkemdiche, plays for the Rebels -- widely perceived as the front-runners, although Nkemdiche himself has yet to publicly offer a pecking order recently.
The Journal-Constitution writes that “Clemson, UGA and LSU are also in the mix, and Nkemdiche has mentioned interest in visiting other schools such as Southern Cal, Texas, Oregon, Mississippi State and Florida.” Back in mid-April, Rivals wrote that Nkemidiche’s top five were, in alphabetical order, Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, LSU and Ole Miss.
According to the Rivals database, Nkemdiche has yet to take an official visit to any of the schools mentioned, or any other school for that matter.
(Photo credit: Loganville Grayson (Ga.) High School)