WEST PALM BEACH – This past weekend has proven to be a pivotal moment in Antonio Outler’s college recruiting process.

On Aug. 1-2, the Palm Beach Lakes incoming senior running back had a chance to see which colleges are really interested in him. After all, he has received 13 offers to date, including the likes of Auburn, Kentucky, South Dakota, Charlotte, Tennessee State, Tennessee-Martin, and Middle Tennessee.

Of those 13 out-of-state college football programs, there were five that extended an official offer to him. Those schools were South Dakota, Charlotte, Tennessee State, Tennessee-Martin, and Middle Tennessee.

Outler spoke on his college recruiting process.

“It’s been all over the place, to be honest with you,” Outler said. “I don’t know when my next offer is going to come or where it will come from. There’s a lot of schools on me, but I don’t know where I stand with them.”

Of those five schools that extended a real offer to Outler, only two have really shown a lot of love to date.

For Outler, communication means everything. And for him, South Dakota and Charlotte could be considered as co-leaders at this time.

Let us start with South Dakota, a school that already has three players who graduated from Palm Beach Lakes High School. They consist of incoming freshmen Jailen Holman and Vincent Starling, as well as upperclassman Jakari Starling.

“South Dakota shows a lot of love to me,” Outler said. “The coaches follow all the rules. They stay in touch with me as much as they can.”

Outler had more to say about South Dakota.

“South Dakota gives you a lot of time to focus,” Outler said. “It’s in its own environment, and it’s a perfect place for me to do well at.”

Outler on Charlotte:

“They try to be the first to do everything,” Outler said. “They really go out their way to show love to me. They send me a bunch of cool graphics to let me know that I matter to them. It’s a cool thing to see.”

Outler will not be making his final decision any time soon.

“I want to take an on-campus visit to South Dakota first,” the 5-foot-10, 200-pound running back said. “I saw a virtual tour of the school already, and when I go there, it will make everything complete for me.”

Outler’s next preferred stop would be Charlotte.

“I want to see the school for myself and see how I would fit in there,” Outler said.

As for any other visits, Outler isn’t sure yet.

“I will know when the time comes,” Outler said.

Now with all that said, Outler has been focusing on his upcoming senior season at Palm Beach Lakes. He wants to end his final high school football campaign with at least 2,000 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns.

But most importantly, Outler wants his team to achieve a new level of success.

“I want us to come together as a team and win games”, Outler said. “I want us to do better than what we did last year. We have the team to get it done.”

Outler (No. 1-ranked running back; No. 4 overall player in Palm Beach County) has been running routes and catching pass from a few quarterbacks in the area this offseason. He wants to be more of a receiving-type running back this year.

“I want to do more stuff on the field,” Outler said. “We could do whatever we want. If I could switch positions on the field, it could be easier on our coaches. It would give them a wide range of plays to call.”

The Rams standout reflected on all the positive things on and off the field that have transpired to date.

“It comes with the hard work I put in,” Outler said. “It’s not really a shock to me. It was supposed to be like this.”

PHOTO CREDITS: South Dakota Football and Charlotte Football