Ducksworth camping in the SEC West

Now that the summer camp scene is coming to a close, North Forrest (Miss.) High School's Lelland Ducksworth is also close to wrapping up his camp visits. That process will continue this week at a pair of SEC Western Division programs for the 6-foot-1, 215-pound linebacker.

"I am going to Alabama (today) and then I am going to the Big Dawg Camp on Friday," noted Ducksworth. "I just went to the Southern Miss camp this weekend and they offered me so that was a good thing.

"I just appreciate my mom helping me to go to these camps and providing me this opportunity. I know money is tight these days and my plans are to go to Mississippi State with one of my coaches."

With his latest USM offer, Ducksworth also holds offers from Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Memphis, Arkansas State, Louisiana-Lafayette and Louisiana Tech. And he added that a couple of other BCS programs are starting to show interest.

"Alabama has been calling me lately and Purdue is also showing interest," said Ducksworth. "I know Purdue has a good engineering program and that is one of the majors I am looking at for college. So it is good to get interest from those programs."

Last month, Ducksworth said his plans were to make his college decision by the end of the summer or near the start of his senior year at North Forrest. He said getting new offers and new interest may "prolong" his original plans.

"Getting a few more offers this summer makes you look harder at the entire process and I may prolong my decision a bit," said Ducksworth. "But it may still be at the end of the summer and there is no way I wait until the end of my senior season."

While those plans have shifted a bit, what hasn't changed is Ducksworth's leader in his recruitment.

"Mississippi State is still my leader and that is where I am leaning," Ducksworth said. "The reason is because of their coaches and the way we communicate. All of their coaches know me and that is different from the other schools. Southern Miss coaches know me, too, but they are right there near home. As far as schools further away from home, I know the Mississippi State coaches better than the other staffs recruiting me."