Gottfried getting plenty of interest

Tuscaloosa (American Christian Academy), Ala. wide receiver prospect Brandon Gottfried is yet to receive his first offer, but he is drawing interest from a long list of schools.

Gottfried is the son of former Alabama head basketball coach Mark Gottfried, who resigned early last January after spending 11 years at Alabama.

The severance of that that relationship won't have any impact on the younger Gottfried's decision should the Tide come calling.

"I still love Alabama," Brandon Gottfried said on Wednesday. "I basically grew up here my whole life. I grew up a fan and would love to play football at Alabama. But my Dad has never pressured me to go to Alabama. He is telling me it's my choice."

Not only was the elder Gottfried the head coach at Alabama, but also a standout player from 1985-87 and led the Tide to three consecutive Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament appearances.

Brandon is listed as a 6-foot-4, 200 pound wide receiver prospect, but said he has recently grown an inch and added ten pounds. His reported 4.7 speed may be the telling reason why he has no offers as a wide receiver prospect.

"I'm getting tons of mail, but no offers yet," he said. "I don't see myself as a wide receiver in college. Most of the schools recruiting me are talking about using me as a H-back where I would line up and block a lot. Blocking is one of my strengths. But I'll do whatever they ask me to do."

While he doesn't have the blazing speed, evidently catching the football is also strength. He didn't have his statistics from 2008 readily available, but said he does know that he had 19 catches for touchdowns last year. He called information provided by his quarterback (and best friend) Matt Sandlin, who attributed him with over 1,000 yards in catches, as "probably correct."

Gottfried said he's receiving the most mail from Alabama, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Stanford and UCLA.

He said while he's not receiving "a lot" of mail from Ole Miss, he still lists the Rebels among his favorites and that is in large part due to a relationship with Houston Nutt.

Nutt and Mark Gottfried coached at Murray State at the same time with Nutt heading the Racers' football program and Gottfried winning a conference championship each year in three year tenure. Both departed around the same time, with Nutt moving to Boise State in 1997 and Gottfried headed to Alabama in 1998.

Meanwhile, Brandon Gottfried camped at Ole Miss last summer and is also no stranger to Nutt.

"I just love coach Nutt," Gottfried said. "One of the most important things when selecting a college is where you feel comfortable and I definitely feel very comfortable with coach Nutt. Ole Miss is a very possible (destination)."

Gottfried said he won "an MVP or some kind" of award at camp last year at Ole Miss and got positive feedback from Nutt and the staff seemed very impressed with his performance.

"He told me I really impressed them and he kept moving me to the front of the line to have me doing drills over and over," Gottfried said. "I was having a good camp, but injured my collarbone and didn't get to finish."

Gottfried said if he could have his choice of three offers today, he'd have them come from Alabama, UCLA, and Stanford. He also said in the event that no offers are forthcoming, he'll likely pursue enrollment at Harvard in favor of trying to walk-on with a Division I program.

"I have a GPA over 4.0 and I made 26 on the ACT, which I took when I was a freshman," he said. "If I don't get an offer, I might just try to improve my ACT – get it over 30 – and go to Harvard. "

However, Gottfried is not set on writing off a college career just yet via the scholarship route.

He plans to attend the Tuscaloosa Nike Camp early next month as well as make some appearances at summer camps in an attempt to earn some scholarship offers.

Gottfried said he and his father may soon take a visit to Ole Miss – if not to watch a practice – then just to make an office call on Nutt. He did discount being at the Grove Bowl on April 18, opting instead for Alabama's spring game, which is on the same date.