RECRUITING NOTEBOOK

By Jeremy Crabtree

updated 12:39 p.m. ET June 11, 2009

Several of the best quarterbacks in the west were on hand at UCLA’s camp over the weekend, including highly regarded California passers Brett Nottingham and Nick Hirschman.

But it was an out-of-state quarterback, Taylor Graham of Wheaton (Ill.) Wheaton North, who walked away with a scholarship offer from coach Rick Neuheisel.

Graham has been flying under the radar through the spring evaluation process because he broke his ankle midway through last season and missed much of the rest of the season. But once coaches started to do their homework, the offers started to pour in from schools such as Iowa, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Colorado, Arkansas and Duke. He wowed coaches Saturday in Westwood, and the Bruins jumped in the hunt.

All of this is making Graham think twice about how he’s going to approach the recruiting process.

“I believe the last week in April was when I got my first offer,” Graham said. “Up until maybe the past week or so, I haven’t really thought I had the luxury of waiting that long to make a decision. I felt like I would have to take my spot as soon as I could before someone else took it, and I would be out of offers.

“Now I have collected more offers and I feel I can wait a little bit longer. Most of the schools have said they will give me time to think about it. They told me that they want me to make the right decision and they are leaving it open to me to ask them as many questions as I can so I can feel comfortable.”

Coker starting from scratch
There are going to be plenty of firsts for new UT-San Antonio coach Larry Coker over the next few months.

Coker is building the program from scratch and just recently hired his first three assistant coaches. He’s also going to hold the school’s first football camp June 18-20. Later, the school is going to break ground on its stadium.

Coker, who won a national championship as coach at Miami, recently received his first four commitments — from running back Chris Johnson of San Antonio East Central, defensive end Chris Dorsey of Altair (Texas) Rice Consolidated, and San Antonio Brackenridge teammates Earon Holmes, a receiver, and Malcolm Greer, a defensive back.

UTSA will sign its first recruiting class in February and is scheduled to compete as a Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) member beginning in 2011. From there, UTSA’s goal is to eventually become part of Conference USA.

All four prospects are excited about being the first to join the program.

“It’s about coming there and getting a dynasty started,” Dorsey said. “If you’re ready to play ball, come up there. It’s pretty tight. They’ve got some good coaches. Coach Coker is a good coach and has won some championships.”

Holmes said he thinks the school will be a good fit for a lot of Texas high school prospects because of its location and the new facilities.

Johnson’s commitment was a nice recruiting victory for Coker. The 5-foot-9, 182-pound Johnson – who has rushed for more than 3,200 yards and 34 touchdowns the past two seasons – also had scholarship offers from Colorado and Iowa State.

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Greer said he’s been a big fan of Coker since he watched him coach at Miami.

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“I heard a lot about him when he was at the University of Miami,” Greer said. “He’s got experience and knows what it takes to take a team to a championship. He told us that we’re going to start off as an independent and then we should, in a couple years, be a D-I program playing big schools. He’s been talking about getting people from the area and building a better team so we can challenge all the schools around us.

“I like that challenge of starting something from scratch. It’s going to allow us to be part of something special.”

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