Four-star defensive tackle prospect Calvin Avery is verbally committed to join Lovie Smith and the Illinois Fighting Illini for his college career. However, the 6-foot-2, 310-pound lineman from Bishop Dunne in Dallas (Tx.) isn't quite ready to fully shut down his recruiting process.
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In fact, Avery recently told Greg Powers of Scout that "two major schools" are firmly in the mix despite the fact that he is currently committed.
"I am still going to have my recruiting process open until national signing day. So, I will be looking forward to still taking my official visits. Really the two major schools will be USC and Colorado. I don't feel like I gave Colorado and USC a better chance to getting to know me better or for me to get to know their program better."
It is something of a surprise that the two programs would be USC and Colorado, simply because of the lack of proximity to Avery's hometown. Still, his current commitment isn't exactly down the road and that does not appear to be a full-scale priority.
At the moment, Avery ranks as one of the top 200 prospects nationally according to the 247Sports composite and it is a safe bet that programs won't be slowing down in recruiting him hard given that he is willingly (and publicly) leaving the door open in this way.
