OFFERS COME FLOODING IN FOR STAMFORD'S FORTT
4/1/09 by Tom Renner, Stamford Advocate
The college offers have come fast and furious for Stamford linebacker Khairi Fortt.
The 6-3, 225 pound linebacker has received scholarship offers from over 20 schools, including some of the best known football programs in the nation, and schools in just about every major conference. He is the No. 1 recruit in the Northeast, according to Stamford football coach Kevin Jones, and one of the top recruits in the country.
"It's amazing, I'm excited for him,'' Jones said. "It's a unique story to have a kid from Stamford getting recruited like this."
Fortt said he is surprised by all the attention he has generated, which has intensified since he posted a highlight video on the Rivals.com Web site. The site is one of the top data bases on the recruiting of high school athletes.
"It's surprising because first it was Boston College, Rutgers and UConn,'' Fortt said. "I thought they'd be my only three choices. After the Nike camp, I started to get noticed a little bit more, and I started getting more contact with coaches. I got my highlight tape done and when they saw it on Rivals, that's when they all started coming."
The college suitors envision big things for Fortt, who had 118 tackles for Stamford last year. At 6-3 and 220 pounds, he's also quick and a punishing tackler.
"He's always been the biggest and the fastest and the strongest,'' Jones said. "He's a physical freak. When you put the film on him, he jumps out at you. By the end of his sophomore year he had offers from Boston College and UConn. Now it's how do you make a decision. The hardest part will be telling the other schools that you're not going to come there."
Fortt's next task is culling his list. He said he wants to narrow it down to 10 or 12 schools by the end of May, and have it pared to five by the end of the scholastic football season.
"There's not one single biggest factor, but three factors,'' Fortt said. "The biggest factor is definitely academic. It also depends on the depth chart, I don't want to be like the 11th linebacker coming in. Also, I have to decide whether I want to stay close to home or go far away from home. I was thinking I'd like to play where it's warm, but there's a lot of teams that play football in cold weather."
Fortt, who said he plans to study aeronautical engineering and business, has received advice from other Stamford football players who have moved on to college. "They talk about college life and how the coaches are,'' Fortt said. "They tell me how it goes by pretty fast. By the time I'm getting to college, they'll be seniors. If I pick the right school to go for football and academics, I'll be set for my four years."
"It's going to come down for him to this: When it's the middle of winter, and football season is a long way away, where do you want to go to class?'' Jones said. "Where is it where you'll be comfortable going to class? You better like school you're at, or you'll be in a world of trouble."
Before Fortt make his choice, he has another season remaining with the Stamford High football team. With the offers flooding in, it would be easy for Fortt to coast until he reaches a college campus.
"I have to play hard,'' Fortt said. "First off, my team is counting on me. I'm a captain of the team, and younger players look up to the captain. I'm not going to be the lazy one. Last year, we went 6-5 but before that we were 2-8 and 1-9. We haven't been in our conference championship game in a long time, and I think this year we can get pretty close, if not win it."
Jones is confident Fortt will have a big finish to his career for the Black Knights, even with all the attention he has received.
"They recruit on the quality of the kid, too,'' Jones said. "It's not just your athletic ability. If I thought he had character issues, and he would stop playing, I wouldn't have recommended him. He's a standup kid and he's never been in trouble."
-- Staff writer Tom Renner can be reached at tom.renner@scni.com or at 964-2255.