Cathedral's Pete Werner: 3 positions, 19 offers in football

UPDATE, FEB. 16: Pete Werner tweeted that he received an offer from Notre Dame.

The scholarship offers are piling up faster than Pete Werner could have imagined.

On Monday, Iowa and Nebraska of the Big Ten Conference became the latest schools to offer Werner, a versatile junior outside linebacker prospect from Cathedral.

“I’m surprised, thankful, whatever you can say,” said the 6-3, 215-pound Werner. “I was looking at some schools, and I could see myself at some of those, but it’s nice to have options.

Options? There are plenty. Werner, the No. 2 in-state prospect in the 2017 class by 247sports.com, has 18 scholarship offers and counting. In addition to Iowa and Nebraska, the Big Ten’s Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, Northwestern and Wisconsin have offered. Others include Boston College, Cincinnati, Duke, Iowa State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Vanderbilt.

Werner, the son for former DePauw University star Greg Werner, said college coaches like his versatility. At different points this season for Cathedral, Werner played outside linebacker, safety and cornerback.

“They said they like how I can move at my size,” he said. “They like my versatility. I’ve been used to play safety all my life, but now I’m getting recruited as a linebacker. It doesn’t matter to me (where I play) as long as I’m on the field making plays.”

Werner, who visited Duke over the weekend, said he plans to visit Ole Miss, Tennessee and Michigan State in coming weeks.

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“I’m open to anybody right now,” he said. “There are new schools coming in and (coaches) following me on Twitter every day. You never know. Tou could fall in love with a program and everything changes. It’s still early.”

Though he doesn’t plan to make a commitment soon, Werner said he does have a top three right now of Duke, Northwestern and Wisconsin.

“Those are the three right now that I love,” he said. “They all have great facilities, awesome academics and great football.”

There is one potential offer, however, that would change everything.

“I really like Stanford,” he said. “If I got that offer, I could commit the next day. That’s the one I really want. It would be hard to turn down.”

Stanford’s interest so far hasn’t been intense, though there has been contact. Werner said he talked with Center Grove defensive lineman Jovan Swann, a Stanford commit, about the program at Monday’s Best of the Midwest combine on the Eastside.

“They have a great academic reputation, and they are on the rise in football,” Werner said. “It’s a top-five school in the nation.”

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Coleman a rising star

A name to remember in the 2017 class is Pompey Coleman, an offensive tackle from Ben Davis.

The 6-5, 265-pound Coleman was named a most valuable player at his position at Monday’s Best of the Midwest combine.

“Coaches like my height, my athleticism and my quick feet,” Coleman said. “Those are probably my three best traits.”

Coleman, ranked fourth by 247sports in the state for the 2017 class, picked up an offer from Indiana earlier this month and visited Bloomington last week. In the past three weeks, he’s also been offered by Bowling Green, Cincinnati, Syracuse and Wake Forest. Others to offer are Ball State, Illinois, Miami (Ohio) and Western Michigan.

“It was a little unexpected,” Coleman said of the recruiting surge. “But I’ve always believed in my abilities and thought it could happen.”

Coleman, who has visits upcoming to Western Michigan (next week), Bowling Green (March) and Michigan State (March), classified himself as having a “good” junior year.

“It went well, but I could always do better,” he said. “I think I did good with pass protection. I need to work on staying lower and keeping a wide base.”

Coleman said blocking for Michigan recruit Chris Evans made his job a lot easier.

“Chris is a great player,” he said. “Even if the block wasn’t good, he could still make it look good and make a big play.”

Coleman said he’d love to hear more from any of the “big three” in the Big Ten — referring to Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State. He said he’s still at the fact-gathering stage of his recruitment.

“The first initial visit I’m pretty much taking everything at a glance and noticing as much as I can,” he said. “The secondary visits I’ll ask more specific questions.”

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More news and notes

Ben Davis running back Johnny Adams, a sophomore, was timed at 4.35 seconds in his 40-yard dash Monday. Cathedral junior receiver Zavier Brown was timed at 4.33. … Cameron McGrone, a sophomore from Lawrence Central, was named one of two linebacker MVPs at the Best of the Midwest combine. Luke Martin of Fishers joined Coleman as offensive lineman MVPs. Juniors Elliot Charlebois (Guerin Catholic) and Trenton Hatfield (Muncie Central) were the quarterback MVPs.

Call IndyStar reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649. Follow him on Twitter: @KyleNeddenriep.