Beth Long’s football recruiting notebook

Recruiting is speeding up for several of the area’s top juniors. Quarterback Ben Bryant helped Lyons advance to the semifinal round of the Class 8A playoffs. Now Bryant is tackling college visits.

“Recruiting has been going well,” Bryant said. “I visited Indiana Saturday. I’ve visited Northwestern, Wisconsin, Central Michigan, and Iowa. I might be visiting some more schools these next couple of weekends, I’m not sure who though.”

Indiana was easy to reflect on for Bryant, a 6-3, 190-pound athlete.

“The facilities were very impressive,” Bryant said. “They have the second largest weight room in the country. I also really like their offense because it is almost identical to the offense we run at my high school.”

As for recruiting in general, it’s an exciting time for the junior signal caller.

“Schools are telling me they really like how I throw the ball and my completion percentage,” Bryant said. “I had very few interceptions this season, that was something they liked too.”

Most of Bryant’s interest has come from the Big Ten and the MAC. Now he’s starting to see his recruiting stock rise on the east coast with schools like Syracuse and West Virginia throwing their names in the hat.

Mount Carmel’s Verdis Brown adding offers

The two latest offers in for Mount Carmel junior lineman Verdis Brown are from Wisconsin and LSU.

The Badgers are the latest school to get a visit from the 6-5, 295-pound prospect.

“The campus was outstanding and I liked the locker room,” Brown said.

St. Laurence’s Levy Hamer one to watch

St. Laurence senior wide receiver Levy Hamer is a 5-11, 185-pound athletic prospect who is starting to turn heads on the recruiting trail. He’s receiving interest from several local colleges.

“I love the crowd, I love the spotlight,” Hamer said.

Hamer has been a threat out wide for a St. Laurence team that is headed to the Class 6A semifinals.

“I think I could bring a deep threat to a college team,” Hamer said. “I can bring good blocking to a team and I’ve been told my football IQ is high. I need to work on route running. I have been and will continue to work on it in college.”

Hamer has been working all season to improve his game and improve his recruiting stock.

“I’ve improved my catching under pressure and in big play situations,” Hamer said. “I love crunch time.”