Offers mounting for Georgia TE

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Columbus (Ga.) Shaw tight end Bruce Figgins is one of the top prospects the Peach State has to offer in its class of 2007, and the offers are starting to mount for the 6-foot-3.5, 239-pound Figgins.

"My offers are from Georgia, Auburn, Clemson, Florida State, Mississippi State, UConn, Duke and Maryland, and my two most recent offers are from South Carolina and LSU," Figgins said. "I know more about some of the schools than I do about the others, but I'm looking at all of them."

The Georgia Bulldogs are a team high on Figgins' list.

"Georgia is an in-state school, and I've gotten the chance to talk with Mark Richt several different times. It's the kind of place where I could see myself playing. They have a great tradition of putting tight ends into the NFL, and that's my ultimate hope and dream. Athens is also a real nice place."

Auburn is hoping Figgins, who runs the 40-yard dash in 4.78 seconds, will stay closer to home.

"Auburn is only 45 minutes from my house, and I like their coaches a lot. The town where the school is is really small, so there's a lot of support for the football team. I get that 'home feeling' while I'm there. I also like how they use their tight ends because it's a lot like how we use the tight end here at Shaw."

The Clemson Tigers are also working Figgins hard.

"Clemson is a lot like Auburn. I like the people at Clemson, especially their tight ends coach, Billy Napier. I talk to him almost every day, and I feel like he's there for me. He seems honest and up front about things. They use two and three tight ends a lot, so there would be a chance for playing time if I went there."

South Carolina and LSU round out the list of schools Figgins was asked to comment on.

"I don't know as much about them yet, but I'm going to do research on both of them soon. For South Carolina, Coach (Tyrone) Nix came by the school last week, and he was just saying how they really need a big-time tight end, and that Coach (Steve) Spurrier is a great coach and knows how to get the ball to them. LSU has a lot of tradition, and I really like Coach (Doug) Mallory, my recruiter."

Figgins, who turned in 22 repetitions of 185 pounds on the bench press at the Athens NIKE Camp, will decide which school is best for him based on several factors.

"I feel like I can get a good education at any of the schools that have offered me, so that's not a big part of my decision process. I'm looking more at football and how each team uses their tight ends. I also want to see what kind of depth they have at tight end since I'd like to play pretty early. The last big thing is how the people are, and how they act with me and approach me."

Three teams currently stand out the most to Figgins.

"I'd my top three are Georgia, Auburn and Florida State. I had thought about going all the way through the process and picking late, but now I'm not so sure what I'm going to do. I can't tell you when I'm going to decide."

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