Tyler Atkinson isn’t even a freshman in high school yet and he is already one of the most coveted recruits in the nation. Earlier this week, he pulled in his ninth Power Five offer, this one from Rutgers football.
A 6-foot-3, 190-pound edge rusher at Grayson (Loganville, GA), Atkinson already holds Power Five offers from Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Maryland, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Penn State, South Carolina, Texas, and Texas A&M.
He has 22 scholarship offers total.
The offer from the Big Ten program came just days after the staff saw him up close at a Florida State football camp. Rutgers head coach [autotag]Greg Schiano[/autotag], cornerbacks coach [autotag]Mark Orphey[/autotag] (recently named to a prestigious coaching watch list) and defensive line coach [autotag]Marquise Watson[/autotag] attended the camp in Tallahassee and walked away impressed with the eighth-grader.
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Impressed enough to make an offer.
“I was able to meet coach Schiano, coach Mark and coach Watson during camp over the weekend. They felt I had a great day at camp. I was able to speak with coach Schiano again [on Wednesday] and I earned my offer from him personally,” Atkinson told RutgersWire.
“I think what makes me the most excited about my offer from Rutgers is that the coach Schiano was able to see me work in person and tell me things I can fix.”
It is certainly early in the process for Atkinson – in fact, extremely early – but he did say that “I have made some really good relationships with Georgia, Ohio State, LSU, Florida State, Texas, Michigan State, and Michigan coaches.”
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Because it is so early in the process for Atkinson, his focus isn’t as much on the recruiting component as he is on getting ready for the fall.
“Just working and getting ready for high school. We just finished our first week of summer workouts at Grayson,” Atkinson said.
“I am just focusing on being at my best all-around so I can help our team win [the] state.”
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