With 8 Division 1 Offers in 2 Weeks, Marcel Southall Won't Be Unranked for Long

Marcel Southall had the kind of month every recruit looking to get noticed by college coaches and evaluators hopes for.

If you really want to be specific, the Duncanville, Texas, 2016 prospect had the two weeks every recruit hopes for.

On April 20, the rising defensive lineman picked up his first offer from Texas Tech. From there, he added a second offer. And then a third. Then a fourth.

By May 1, he had five offers, including three from Big 12 stalwarts Texas, Baylor and Oklahoma. And after Tuesday, Southall added his first two SEC offers and another Big 12 offer to put his total at eight: Texas Tech, Illinois, Baylor, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, Ole Miss and Kansas.

Not bad for a player who currently is unranked by the major recruiting outlets and didn't have an offer entering April. Southall now is one of the talked-about athletes at a school with a rich basketball history.

"How do I feel? I'm excited about it all," an overwhelmed, but ecstatic Southall said. "But I just take it as it goes. It's one day at a time for me. All you hear about with Duncanville is basketball, so it means a lot."

At 6'3" and 270 pounds, Southall is projected to be a defensive tackle by some, but his footwork makes him a prime candidate to see some time at defensive end.

In fact, it's his speed, according to Duncanville recruiting coordinator Eric Mims, that makes him such an intriguing prospect. At 270 pounds, Southall has run the 40-yard dash in 4.8 seconds. 

"The kid has great feet and is very athletic. The schools I've talked to think he has tons of potential," Mims said. "I believe it's the overall intangibles, but they're very impressed with the feet he has. Watch the guy's tape, and he's making plays. He's chasing quarterbacks. He's putting his toe in the ground and redirecting.

"He just has the stuff you can't coach. You want your guys to do things that he already does naturally."

Mims said he believed Southall always had the talent to land FBS looks, but he was unsure as to why he was without an offer entering last month. Give partial credit to Mims, who, as a recruiting coordinator, built multiple relationships with college coaches coast to coast at Dallas power Skyline High School. Mims accepted a coaching position at Duncanville when former Skyline head coach Reginald Samples took the job in January.

Mims may have provided an in, but he's the first to say Southall delivered the goods when the eyes of college coaches were on him. Physically, Southall is the lump of clay every coach wants. Along with his speed, he bench presses 310 pounds and squats 500.

Southall said he will overpower an offensive lineman if necessary, but he takes pride in beating linemen off the ball. His quickness is his bread and butter.

"That's what the coaches like," he said of his quickness. "I'm a mismatch for a guard. Some schools are talking about me playing 3-tech, and some are saying I can play outside end because of my quickness."

Texas Tech was his first offer, and while he'd already built a relationship with his recruiting contact, Emmett Jones, he said the offer caught him off guard.

"My coach told me to call [Texas Tech], and we talked on the phone," Southall said. "Coach Jones was telling me about the program, and then he offered me on the phone. I was excited. I was happy that someone was finally noticing me."

Eight days later, Southall picked up three offers in one day, starting with Illinois, then Baylor and then Oklahoma. Two days later, Texas offered.

Southall said the Texas offer was "a shock," as he first received the news via social media.

"I was supposed to call Texas, but I ended up falling asleep," he said. "I woke up and saw on Twitter the next day that they offered. I called my coach, and he said they offered. I had no idea."

The SEC offers on Monday seemed to cap a memorable string of days. Southall was offered by Missouri first, and then Ole Miss put its name into the race. Additionally, Alabama was at practice recently and is in the process of evaluating him, Mims said.

"His offers are putting him at another level," Mims said. "It opens everybody's eyes to the talent that's on board. I hope to see other offers come in for him as well."

Southall currently doesn't have a favorite, but he said he will take an unofficial visit to Baylor on May 31. He said Baylor interests him as a back-to-back Big 12 champion, and there are opportunities to play early in Art Briles' defense.

For now, he's just enjoying the process—one that's been rewarding his efforts in microwavable fashion as of late.

Damon Sayles is a National Recruiting Analyst for Bleacher Report. All quotes were obtained firsthand. All player ratings are courtesy of 247Sports' composite ratings. Follow Damon via Twitter: @DamonSayles