Plato Ready to Rock

Nick Plato, a 6-foot-6, 235-pound, defensive end/tight end, from Edwardsville, Ill., is ready for his do-over. Plato sat out the 2006 season because of a car accident and was granted another year of eligibility by the Illinois High School Association. Plato has plenty of big-time offers and he names his current favorites.

“Right now I have scholarship offers from Illinois, Boston College, Purdue, Oklahoma State, Colorado, Kansas and Kansas State.” Nick Plato said.

“I’ve been hearing from a lot of other schools and they are all telling me that they want to see senior film before offering me a scholarship.

“I went out to USC this summer and camped with them. Coach (Brennan) Carroll told me that they wanted me to work out with the defensive ends and they really liked me. After the USC camp, I went over to UCLA and worked out for them.

“My dads best friend lives in California so everything sort of fell in place as far as getting out to the West Coast and making a few visits and camps. I also camped at Florida this summer as well.”

2006 was definitely a rough year for Plato, having to watch his teammates at Edwardsville go through the season without him but now he’s ready to get back onto the football field.

“Last year was definitely tough,” said Plato. “It was a wild ride. We had to apply to the I.H.S.A. for another year of eligibility because of my car accident and once we got that, everyone was relieved.

‘I feel great now and 110% ready to go this year. I have a lot to prove and I want to go out and show my leadership abilities.”

We asked Plato if he could talk about official visits, favorites and leaders.

“I don’t have any official visits set up yet.” Plato said. “I will be talking to Oklahoma State next week and I’ll probably set that official visit up then.

“My favorites right now are Oklahoma State, Boston College, Illinois, Wisconsin, Colorado, Clemson, Florida and Arkansas.

“I wouldn’t say that I have a leader. I’m kind of keeping things open right now to see who else offers during the season. I’ll probably set my visits up after the season and make a commitment sometime during the winter.”

Badgers assistant coach Randall McCray has done a great job of recruiting Illinois talent and he leads up the recruiting efforts for Nick Plato.

“I like Coach McCray a lot,” said Plato. “He’s a real down to earth guy and he’s easy to get along with. What I like about Coach McCray is that he listens and answers every question and really helps me understand the recruiting process.”

Plato said that most schools are recruiting him as a tight end but there are a few that have mentioned defensive end. Nick will start on both sides of the ball this season.