Manteca, Calif., two-way athlete Blake Nichelson is getting closer to figuring out the top schools in his recruitment. He will soon begin to plan out his official visit schedule, but the 2023 prospect has been busy this spring making visits to numerous schools around the West.

Utah, USC, Cal and Oregon have all hosted him on visits in recent weeks giving him some more insight into what will be most important when it comes time to narrow his focus. The recent trips have been helpful in providing him with an understanding of the inner-workings of each program and what to look for when he takes other visits moving forward in the process.

Through his travels, Nichelson has learned how important the connections he is building with each program are going to be when he eventually makes his commitment decision.

“Well, definitely I feel like my relationships with these coaches are a big thing,” he said. “On these visits it gives me an overview of how much of a priority I am to them and how much I actually do mean to the program. So, I think relationships with the coaches is definitely a huge thing going forward in the recruiting process right now.”

Oregon has now hosted Nichelson on multiple visits with his latest trip coming over the weekend when he trekked up to Eugene to see the Ducks in action during the team’s first spring game under head coach Dan Lanning.

Impressing someone who has already been on campus can be difficult for a program, but seeing the Oregon spring game and spending a couple days around the team helped strengthen Nichelson’s bond with the Ducks.