East Lake LB gets dream offer from UCF

Tarpon Springs (Fla.) East Lake linebacker/safety Justin Strnad thought a UCF offer might be in the works.

His recruiter, secondary coach Kirk Callahan, dropped by his school earlier in May, then defensive coordinator Tyson Summers made a special visit last Thursday for the sole purpose of sizing him up in person.

On Monday, things became official.

"Coach Callahan and Coach Summers called my coach, Coach (Bob) Hudson, and he told me to call them," Strnad said. "So I did and they told me they were offering. When they sent Coach Summers here last week I knew it was pretty serious. It was cool to hear it. I have a lot of friends who go to UCF. I've always wanted an offer from them. It's a dream to get an offer."

Strnad now has more than a dozen FBS offers with UCF joining Air Force, Akron, Ball State, Buffalo, Duke, FAU, FIU, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Illinois, Iowa State, Marshall and Wake Forest.

"UCF said they think I could help them both at the sam linebacker position and in the nickel package," Strnad said. "Some schools are recruiting me for strong safety, others for outside linebacker. Some have said a mixture of both. I enjoy playing both. A lot of people say I play the run stronger than I do the pass. I do like coming up and making big tackles."

Strnad is a former teammate of quarterback Pete DiNovo, who will be a redshirt freshman at UCF this fall.

"I'm very good friends with Pete," Strnad said. "I was actually just talking to him about coming up there. Coach Callahan told me to reach out to him. I guess him and Coach Callahan have been talking about me for a while. I actually haven't visited UCF, but I'm going to go up there in a couple weeks. I'm looking forward to it. Pete said I'm going to love it. He says I need to commit to join him next year."

Strnad wasn't sure what day he'll visit, but it's likely he'll come over with teammate and Rivals100 wide receiver George Campbell, who has visited UCF many times.

"George said there's a lot more girls than guys at UCF," Strnad said. "That was his first offer. He likes them too."

He's not quite ready to name favorites, but he indicated UCF would be very high on his list.

"I love their location," Strnad said. "I really like the fact they finished in the top 10 in the nation last year and won the Fiesta Bowl. I feel like they're on the come up and they're going to dominate for a while."

FAU, Wake Forest and Duke visits were also on tap for the next couple weeks.

"I do like that UCF is close to home, but I really don't mind playing away from home," Strnad said. "I'm looking at education mainly. I want to get to know the coaching staffs on these visits. Like with UCF, I already have a good relationship with Coach Callahan and that's only going to get better."