St. Charles (Ill.) North sophomore tight end prospect Jake Furtney (6-foot-4, 235 pounds) was part of a very strong tight ends group at lastMonday's The Stage camp held just outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Furtney, who had a strong camp showing breaks down his latest football recruiting news and more in this latest update.
"I loved it at The Stage showcase and it was just fun to go and compete," Furtney said. "I really liked the drills and positional work and we also had plenty of reps in one on ones and I felt good about how I performed."
Furtney, who played tight end, defensive end and linebacker this past season for the North Stars recapped his latest recruiting news.
"We had a lot of college coaches in school back in January and a lot of the coaches talked to my coaches about me. I've been in contact with the coaches from Iowa State, Eastern Michigan, Ball State, Iowa and also Illinois. I've head a lot of contact and feedback from the coaches at Illinois. They said that they like my size and how flexible I am and that I can play several positions. Illinois along with a lot of the other schools all said they will be back in school again this spring. They all want to see me run and move around this spring in person."
Does Furtney have any upcoming spring college visits planned?
"I'm set to visit Iowa this coming Saturday for a spring visit. I'm also hoping to make more visits and I'll get those set up pretty soon."
So how would Furtney grade his on the field performance from last fall?
"I would give myself a grade of "C" or a "B" from last season. I know I could have played better and early on it took me a few weeks to just adjust to the speed of the game and the physicality. On offense I felt that I blocked well and I made some catches and made some plays. On defense I felt good about how I stood my ground and made most of the tackles I had a chance to make. I'm working now on my overall explosiveness and just getting off the snap quicker. I'm also working to improve my blocking and route running."
Furtney is excited and looking forward to his senior season this coming fall.
"We had a really young team last season and on offense we have like 8-9 starters back and on defense we bring back 5-6 starters on offense. Everyone is working hard and I'm excited for our chances."
