ADDISON, Ill. -- It’s been a whirlwind spring for 2017 St. Joseph (Mich.) weakside defensive end Corey Malone-Hatcher after picking up numerous offers from some of the top programs nationally.
Top-10 2017 WDE Corey Malone-Hatcher impressed by Alabama, Notre Dame visits
Look for more schools to join the race for the rising prospect this spring.
And it’s all come as a bit of a surprise.
“Honestly, I can’t tell you that I expected all this,” he told SB Nation Recruiting last Sunday at the Nike Opening Regional Chicago.
“I was hoping that one day it was going to take off here. I was being patient, but it’s gone further than I ever thought it would, so I’m grateful and I’m blessed. I’m just looking forward to it continuing.”
Alabama
One of the big recent visits and offers for the 6’3, 246-pounder ranked as a consensus four-star prospect and No. 8 weakside defensive end in the 247Sports Composite was to Alabama.
“It was awesome,” he said. “It was really cool that they rolled out the red carpet for me. They had former players and current players, so we got to see how they work and how they interact. Got to talk to all the coaches. Talked to the new linebackers coach because they’re recruiting me at the hybrid outside linebacker position. He’s a really nice guy -- he’s newer and younger, so we can relate. He seemed like he was doing a good job while he were there.”
One of the highlights was getting to spend some one-on-one time with head coach Nick Saban.
“There were probably seven or eight kids visiting and I think I was the only one he sat down with individually to talk about the future and how the process goes with that,” Malone-Hatcher said. “I was really grateful that he would take time out of his day right after talking to some NFL coaches. We talked about how their defense works and how their scheme is, how they like to play hard, and how they focus on developing maturity. They said they did their research, checking my grades and my background and they liked everything they found out about me.”
However, Malone-Hatcher was quick to point out that a commitment to the Crimson Tide won’t be forthcoming in the near future despite the quality of his visit.
“Definitely excited, but there’s no lean -- there’s a lot of schools that I really like, so I’m excited to see how it continues.”
Notre Dame
Another recent visit that made a big impression on the Michigan product was to see the Fighting Irish, with the family atmosphere and relationship between the players two aspects that stood out to him.
“It was really cool -- they rolled out the red carpet, too,” he said. “It definitely seemed like they really care about their players by investing a lot of time into everyone who plays there. They have your back and seemed really close-knit. It’s a family atmosphere. We talked to a panel of the current players and the early enrollees, telling us about their experiences. There were no coaches there, so it was really uncensored. They were really honest about what they thought. There are ups and downs, but they said that the way everything works out is a fun atmosphere.”
Upcoming visits
Malone-Hatcher and his family are intent on doing their due diligence during the recruiting process, so there are extensive plans to visit with a number of programs in the near future. The family wants to get back to Michigan soon and have been in contact with Penn State, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Oregon, and Florida State about future visits. A spring break trip to Tallahassee was in the works until the reality of spending eight hours in the car set in for his family.
The Seminoles haven’t offered yet, but he believes head coach Jimbo Fisher could be close. Likewise with the Ducks and the Gators, as offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier extended an offer to Malone-Hatcher when he was with the Wolverines. In all, Malone-Hatcher said that he’s received interest from virtually every top-25 program.
He’s learning about the recruiting process as he goes and it’s causing him to back away from making a quick decision.
“It’s pretty much like corporate America,” he said of the high coaching turnover rate.
So all the offers and coaching changes have pushed back the timetable to talk about committing unless he “just gets that feeling.”
Having stepped back a bit from the recruiting process, Malone-Hatcher is currently trying to balance his desire to have a family atmosphere and connection with a coaching staff with the business side of his decision.
