By Bill Kurelic, NN Recruiting Analyst

bkurelic@nittanynetwork.com

Feb. 20, 2009

Stamford, Ct., inside linebacker Khairi Fortt is one of the nation’s top defensive prospects.  The 6-foot-2 and 225-pound junior has the offers to prove it.

He already has 14 scholarship offers on the table including Penn State, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Cal, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Boston College, Tennessee, Rutgers, Syracuse, Connecticut and Duke.

Fortt is an aggressive and talented prospect.  He possesses good strength, runs the 40-yard dash in 4.6 seconds and plays one of the two inside linebacker positions in his team’s 4-4 defense. During his junior season, Fortt made 118 tackles, forced five fumbles and intercepted two passes.  He also played running back and had five rushing touchdowns.

Fortt has visited Connecticut, Rutgers, Maryland, Virginia and Boston College.  Next weekend Fortt plans to visit Cal.

“We haven’t narrowed things down yet,” Fortt said.  “Right now we are just going out and seeing colleges and evaluating them.  We’re gathering information.  We’ll narrow it down some later in the spring.”

Fortt is no stranger to Penn State, having been to State College twice.

“The first (football) camp I went to was at Penn State when I was in 8th grade,” Fortt said.  “And I went to the Penn State-Michigan game this [past] year.  It was nice.  The crowd was really excited.”

The Penn State staff hopes to get Fortt back for another visit in the not-too-distant future.

“They want us to do a one-on-one visit with Joe Pa and my family,” Fortt said.

In addition to being one of the East Coast’s elite prep football players, Fortt is also a good student who will easily qualify academically.