Peat remains undecided over offers; recruitment pace hits a new high

— Photo by Kris Cartwright

Corona del Sol defensive lineman Todd Peat is in demand. That situation, he says, is an obstacle course, full of twists and turns, highs and lows.

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In a few months it’s all coming to an end. Peat will sign his name on the dotted line and commit to one of the numerous universities vying for his services. He said the recruiting process has been fun and tiring at the same time. Peat has a list of Arizona State, Stanford, Oregon State, Wake Forest, Nebraska and Miami.

He said he has decided to wait until after the season to take official visits and ultimately decide which school he would like to attend.

His first recruiting letter came from UCLA his freshman year, Peat said. His first offer came from ASU when he was a sophomore, followed by Wake Forest. Now, he has a stack of letters and a plethora of offers. He’s looking forward to making a decision. The recruiting process has been a long one. The attention and visits have been fun, but differing opinions have made the process stressful.

“At first it was fun, but when you start coming to the end it gets real stressful. You’ve got people putting pressure on you—everybody telling you which (school to attend): your teammates, people around school, even your family. My family’s pretty good about it, but they’ve all got an opinion about where I should go,” he said.

“I’m around a bunch of ASU people, around a bunch of (University of Arizona) people and people telling me I need to go to Stanford to get a better education. Nebraska fans everywhere, Alabama fans everywhere. They’ve all got an opinion.

“If you talked to me six months ago, I was having a great time with the recruiting process, with the attention and all that. It’s just real stressful after a while. You don’t even want to deal with it at a point.”

Peat said coaches like his style of play. At 6-3, 290 pounds, they believe he’s built to play right away. Playing right away is something Peat said he’s looking to do.

“I’m a real physical player. That’s what they all tell me. That’s what they’re all looking for in a defensive tackle, not just a guy who can bull rush the whole game, but a guy who has moves, quickness and explosion off the ball is what everybody’s looking for in a defensive lineman,” he said.

“I think I’m physically ready. It’s just learning the system. I feel like at my weight and with my strength and my size and my athletic ability, I don’t really think that I’m going to need to redshirt.”

Peat said he tries to ignore most of the opinions that float in his direction. One opinion he does not ignore is that of his father, who played in the National Football League with the Arizona Cardinals and Los Angeles Raiders.

“I give all the credit in the world to my dad. He’s been through the whole process. He played eight years in the NFL. Everything he tells me is gold,” he said.

Peat Sr.’s advice is to be totally honest with yourself and the coaches, and remain objective. Peat Jr. said he’s passing this information on to his brother, Andrus Peat, who next year is likely to have the same experience.

Andrus, a junior offensive lineman, currently has 14 scholarship offers from schools such as Arizona, ASU, Southern Cal, Duke, Clemson, Nebraska and Miami.

“He’s probably got more offers than me right now,” Peat said. “He’s going to have the pick of just about anywhere he wants to go.”

The dominos are falling. Peat Sr. has experiences to help his son, and Peat Jr. is using his experiences to help his younger brother.

Todd doesn’t envy his brother at all. The opinions, the pressure, the endless phone calls. One thing he will tell Andrus is to lean on the people closest to him. They, he said, will offer the opinions that matter the most.

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