MSU offer resonates strongly with WVa o-lineman

Moments after Mark Staten surprised Riley Locklear with news about a Spartan scholarship offer, the big offensive tackle from West Virginia surprised Staten with news of his own.

“The very second after Coach Staten offered, I told him, ‘After I get done calling my mom and telling her (about my scholarship offer), I’m sure my family that lives in East Lansing is going to be excited to hear about this too.’”

Family up there in East Lansing?

“Coach Staten was like, ‘Oh man, I didn’t know you had family up there,’” Locklear said. “He was like, ‘Oh yeah, we’ve got a chance.’”

Lockler (6-5, 285) is ranked the No. 46 offensive tackle in the nation by Rivals.com, and No. 3 overall in West Virginia.

The three-star recruit from Huntington (WV) Spring Valley High School is likely to receive four-star consideration as the summer camps unfold and new offers come in.

He has the offer list of a blue chipper, with Michigan State having offered last week to join offers from Florida State, Louisville, California, Ole Miss, Penn State, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, Virginia Tech and more.

Locklear’s brother, Alex, is an offensive tackle at Marshall. Marshall, which is located in Locklear’s hometown, was among the first to offer.

Michigan State has offered two West Virginia offensive linemen this year, Locklear and Huntington High School o-tackle Billy Ross.

Michigan State linebackers coach Mark Snyder was head coach at Marshall from 2005-09. Snyder, who played at Marshall from 1985-88, still maintains good networks of information in that part of the country. Those leads led Staten to Locklear’s high school for a May visit.

The Michigan State offer resonated strongly with Locklear.

“They (MSU coaches) stopped by and they watched me work out and Coach Staten talked about how athletic I was and how on film he saw that I was so versatile,” Locklear said. “He stopped by and he said, ‘You know what, I really like this kid. He works hard.’ And then he offered me over the phone when he was on his way back.

“I was shocked, honestly. I was shocked because I didn’t know he was going to be up at the weight room that day, watching us work out. I was very shocked. I was really anticipating the offer because I have family that lives in East Lansing, and Detroit and near Houghton Lake.

“It was exciting because all of my family that lives up there are Michigan State fans. So it was a pretty exciting time for us.

“After I called my mom, I called every single one of them that I could. Every single one of them were very excited.

“My mom was very, very excited for me. We have driven by Michigan State multiple times, I mean hundreds of times. Whenever we go to visit our family that live in East Lansing, we have driven by the stadium. We have been by there before but I have never been there on a visit, but I definitely plan on taking a visit very, very soon. I love being up there. I love being around my family and I feel like Michigan State has a great football atmosphere.”

Locklear estimates that he has more than 24 offers, but he isn’t boisterous about them.

“I don’t really think about my offers as a number, I think of it more as an opportunity,” he said. “If you look at my tweets you will notice that hardly ever do I say, ‘Hey, congratulations to myself for receiving my 20th offer.’ I don’t feel like that’s very respectful. That’s just something that I do personally.”

He has taken unofficial visits to Virginia Tech, South Carolina, Tennessee, Penn State and Florida State.

“I plan to hit up a lot of camps with my top schools because I want to give my coaches a chance to connect with me and coach me, the player,” he said. “That way I can say, ‘Hey, I really like playing for this guy.’ Or, ‘I’m not sure about playing for that one.’”

When asked which camps he plans to visit this summer, he said:

“I’m not sure which schools I’m going to go to, but I do know that I will definitely be attending a camp for Michigan State. I’m not sure which date it will be.”

Locklear is regarded as a scholarship-ready prospect right now with major stock-on-the-rise talent. He has played only one season at offensive tackle, and already shows tremendous aptitude at the position.

“I’ve always played skill in the past,” Locklear said. “I’ve always been a tight end or wide receiver or slot or running back. I used to be a quarterback. I’ve been a long snapper, and a kicker. I’ve done it all.”

That changed last August at the end of preseason camp.

“I watched my team play a scrimmage and I said, ‘If I really want to impact my team and impact my year and make it to the playoffs and have a chance at state, I have got to move to offensive line,’” Locklear said. “I saw the need and I took it as an opportunity to say, ‘You know what? I need to step up and do what’s best for my team.’

“That turned out to be a tremendous blessing and one of the best decisions of my life. It’s really paying off.”

No one knew he had FBS talent at the position. But it didn't take long for him to begin to stand out at right tackle for Spring Valley High.

At a well-built and proportioned 6-foot-5, Locklear shows the agility of a former skill player. He covers ground with smoothness and athleticism on outside zone plays or tackle traps.

On one highlight clip, he sprinted and caught up to his quarterback during an option keeper to offer help as a downfield blocker.

He can play low at the line of scrimmage, and also shows the ability to bend and get low in an instant when striking out to the linebacker level.

In pass protection, he makes use of long arms to make first contact while covering ground in a kick set, without lunging forward.

He also stands out at defensive end. He has good closing quickness and grappling hooks for arms and hands on that side of the ball.

California has offered him at d-line as well as o-line.

What do coaches say when they find out he has played offensive line for only one year?

“They say ‘wow,’” Locklear said. “They say I’m coachable and they see that I’ve learned and retained a lot of information very, very fast. Obviously I have a lot of room to improve. But when coaches see my film, they see how well I can move and they see that as an opportunity as, ‘Man, I can really sit down and coach this guy and he can be a really good player some day.’”

Locklear has been in contact with Spartan QB commitment Rocky Lombardi.

“One of the (Michigan State) coaches said, ‘Hey, you should follow this guy. You’re going to be blocking for him in the next few years,’” Locklear said. “So I followed him (on Twitter), and then he mentions me, and we kind of connected. He asked me if I’ve already been on a visit.

“I said, ‘No.’

“He said, ‘Well man, you’re going to end up falling in love with it.’”

Michigan State’s courtship of Locklear has just begun, but the Spartans are off to a strong start.