4-star Aaron Butler narrows list to five schools

Four-star Calabasas (Calif.) athlete Aaron Butler decommitted from USC last month, and has since drawn continued interest from across the country.

Now he’s ready to start narrowing his recruitment down and focusing on a handful of schools, a list that includes Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Oregon, and Washington.

“These schools made the list because I can see coaches at each developing me into a first-round draft pick,” he told On3. “Being developed and drafted is the main thing for me when evaluating schools. That makes these seven stand out.”

Relationships are equally important to Butler, who is looking for a place that feels like home — no matter how close or far that is from California.

“Outside of that, all are great programs with great people,” he added. “The coaches are great, they have great families and the environment is important to me too. I want to be able to relate to the coaches, and coaches at each of these relate to me and make me feel comfortable.”

Aaron Butler is looking to map out official visits

Butler, the No. 98 overall prospect in the On3 Consensus, didn’t do much traveling while he was committed to the Trojans. That changed last month when he tripped to Georgia, a trip that has put the Bulldogs in pole position, according to the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM).

While other recruits will be busy in March with unofficial visits, Butler is more focused on the next step in his recruitment and lining up his five officials.

“I don’t have any visits lined up in March,” he said. “I don’t think I will take anymore unofficial visits. The next visits I take will probably be official visits. Those will start with Georgia on April 14-16, then I plan to get to Alabama and Colorado. Dates are still being finalized for my other visits.”

Butler is working to cut down his list, potentially to five or maybe even three. Once he’s there, he’ll likely make his commitment and be locked in with that program.