The past two weeks have brought a smattering of high school talents to IU football practice, including a pair of 2013 quarterbacks.
Kyle Kempt, from Washington High School in Massillon, Ohio, visited last Tuesday and Wednesday, and Mickey Macius, from St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights, Ill. came in Tuesday to view practice.
Kyle Kempt
Kempt had the usual visit to IU -- a talk with an academic advisor, watched practice, sat in on a meeting and toured campus -- until he and Quarterbacks Coach Kevin Johns visited Buffa Louie's for some sweet barbeque wings.
"When I take these visits, I always go to a local wing place to try things out," Kempt said. "Those wings were delicious. The owner of the restaurant actually came by and started talking to me and gave me a couple stories about Coach Wilson."
Other than the wings, Kempt said he was impressed by the tempo of practice and was intrigued by new Offensive Coordinator Seth Littrell's system, saying he could picture himself in it.
Kempt said Littrell is excited for the prospect of bringing in a quarterback like Kempt.
"He wants me to come there because he wants to throw the ball 50 times a game," Kempt said. "It's just one of those systems to learn."
The system isn't the only focus for Kempt. During the current dead period, Kempt is primarily looking at IU, Cincinnati and West Virginia, and is focused on the feel of the campus as well as the feel in the pocket.
"It's not all about football," Kempt said. "You want to be a student there, you want to be a student-athlete, and you want to enjoy your four years there. You want to wake up every day and just love that you're at the school that you're at."
Although Kempt is looking to go into engineering and IU doesn't have an engineering program, he met with an advisor and is confident they could work something out academically.
Mickey Macius
Just prior to taking a trip to Anaheim, Calif. With his St. Viator baseball team, Macius dropped in on practice Tuesday. He is no stranger to Bloomington; two of his cousins, both in their mid-20s, went to IU and he visited them when he was younger.
He has also been to a pair of Junior Days at IU and said he is tentatively planning on coming to IU's football camp.
Macius has also taken visits to Purdue, Illinois and Bowling Green. He is planning on visiting Michigan State soon after his trip to California (he returns April 5). He said Bowling Green appears the most interested, along with Ivy League schools such as Harvard, Penn, Princeton and Dartmouth.
He has only just begun weighing his options between the two different environments of a Big Ten school and an Ivy League school.
"Academics-wise, going to an Ivy League school, there's definitely that prestige and it gets you in a very good situation for the rest of your life," Macius said. "But I know Indiana and those schools are good schools where they have the bigger football programs, so it's definitely a choice between a bigger football program and a more prestigious academic institution."
IU was the first spring practice he visited, and he said he liked the organization of practice, but it is the first collegiate practice he's attended. He plans on getting more visits going, including attending camps such as Harvard's and Indiana's.
