DB Bates adds his first two offers
Oak Park (IL) River Forest junior cornerback recruit Jalen Bates (6-foot-0, 170 pounds) has been able to add his first two scholarship offers so far this week. Bates checks in and recaps his latest football recruiting news and more in this update.
"I added my first offer from Bowling Green a few days ago," Bates said. "Then earlier today I added my second offer from Southern Illinois. It feels great to add these offers and it makes me want to just work even harder."
Bates, who was playing 7on7 this winter and spring for HeroH gave us his initial impressions from adding his latest offers from BGSU and SIU.
"Bowling Green has been staying in touch a bit with me but I was still a bit surprised to add an offer from them. I had a good feeling about them and they seems to really like me but it was still a great feeling getting my first offer. I know that they play in the MAC and I also like the coaches. Once we can get back out to make visits I'm planning to go check out Bowling Green in person. Southern Illinois I know will have some guys going in the NFL Draft in a few weeks and they have a few defensive backs who will get drafted. I haven't visited SIU yet but I'm hoping to get out and visit them later this sporing or early summer. I'm also going to do more research on both schools soon."
Bates has also been in contact with several schools this spring.
"Besides BGSU and SIU, I've also been in touch with the coaches from Western Michigan, Central Michigan, NIU, Ball State and also Kent State. I made visits so far to both NIU and Ball State and those visits went well."
So how has Bates life changed under the Coronavirus pandemic?
"School and e learning has been good so far. We had e learning in the first week then we went on spring break last week. We've gone back to e learning this week. Workout wise my Dad has access to a turf field and I've been abler to get some work in there along with just doing more body weight exercises to stay in shape. I'm been trying to treat all of this as a positive. One of my goals has been to add more good weight and getting stronger and this time will allow me to stay on that path. I've added around 15 pounds since last season and I'm feeling good about my progress."
Does Bates have a dream school?
"My dream school is Florida. Florida has just a great atmosphere and a great fan base. The coaches always seem to have a great bond with the team and it just seems like a great atmosphere at Florida."
Jalen Bates has scholarship offers from Bowling Green and SIU.