Daron Rose: Six Favs, U-M Visit

The top Florida offensive tackle lists six -- five Southern schools and Michigan. He has three official visits scheduled, including U-M, and has dropped one.

Daron Rose Profile

Tampa, Fla., offensive lineman Daron Rose (6-5, 310, 5.4) names six favorites, and awaits official visits before picking a leader.

"I like Florida, Florida State, South Carolina, LSU, Michigan and Tennessee," said Rose, of Jefferson Senior High School. "I don't have a favorite. I want to check out the schools first -- give everyone a fair shot."

He has officials set for Michigan on Dec. 17, Tennessee on Jan. 14, Florida on Jan. 21 and Florida State on Jan. 27. "It's between South Carolina and LSU for my final official visit.

"I did have one set to Notre Dame at the beginning of the month (Nov. 4), but I canceled that. I hadn't registered with the Clearing House yet, and I haven't heard a lot from them lately. They are kind of on the outside looking in right now," he explained.

Rose expressed his opinions on each of the programs he is looking at:

"Florida has a great game day atmosphere. They play a similar offense to what I am used to, so it would be easy to step right in. They have great coaches.

"Florida State's head coach, Bobby Bowden, is a legend. Who wouldn't want to play for a legend? "At South Carolina I could come in and play right away. Coach (Steve) Spurrier is a great coach. "LSU is an SEC powerhouse. They have great coaches and a great school.

"Michigan has a great tradition as well as coaches.

"Tennessee has the tradition, they are in the SEC and, again, great coaches."

He continued, "The SEC is a powerhouse conference. I grew up in the South, so I am most familiar with those schools. That's why a lot of my schools are in the SEC. I like the conference."

Jefferson (7-3) travels to Bradenton to take on Southeast for the first round of playoffs on Nov. 11.

3.3 GPA/SAT Oct. retake not yet reported

GBW Note: a December 17 U-M visit is iffy since the Wolverines have never scheduled visits that late in the Dec. -- school is out and the team is getting ready to leave for its bowl game. Rose actually has a tentative Dec. 9 date set, but his team may still be playing that weekend ... so we'll see what happens.