Clemson, Oregon or Ohio State? Marian Central’s Christian Bentancur will announce college choice Friday

Marian Central junior Christian Bentancur approached the college recruitment process, which can be hectic and stressful, with the proper attitude.

The recruiting frenzy is about over for Bentancur, a 6-foot-5, 235-pound, four-star tight end recruit, who will make his college commitment Friday. Bentancur will announce which school he has picked between his final three – Clemson, Ohio State and Oregon – at 12:30 p.m. Friday at Marian’s auditorium.

“It’s a blessing at the end of the day. I thank God for it all the time,” said Bentancur, who had 38 Division I offers. “You have to keep your head straight and still focus ... even though you get all that attention.

“There’s going to be some point where you actually go to college, and there’s going to be people way better than you. You just have to keep your head focused on the main goal, which is to get to the NFL.”

Ohio State was fourth in The Associated Press final college football poll and almost advanced to the College Football Playoff championship game, losing a heartbreaking finish to Georgia. Clemson was 10th in the final poll; Oregon was 15th.

In high school, Bentancur got noticed right away when he played on the Hurricanes’ varsity team as a freshman in the COVID-19 spring season of 2021. In his three high school seasons, he has 139 receptions for 2,705 yards and 30 touchdowns, and those numbers come without the benefit of any extra playoff games.

Bentancur caught 54 passes for 1,058 yards and 11 touchdowns this season. His yards and touchdowns were the best in the area, and he was a Northwest Herald All-Area first-team selection for the second straight season.

“It’ll be a great community celebration,” Hurricanes coach Liam Kirwan said. “When it comes to being one of the most recruited players in Marian Central Catholic history, I think the only who can compare are Bryan Bulaga and Sean Cwynar. I don’t know if they started their recruiting process as early as Christian did.

“It’s definitely a special moment in the history of Marian football as well as in Christian’s life.”

Bulaga, a 2007 Marian graduate, played at Iowa and was the No. 23 pick in the 2010 NFL draft by the Green Bay Packers. He played 11 seasons in the NFL. Cwynar, a 2008 Marian graduate, played at Notre Dame.

Recruiting has changed since then, and neither Bulaga nor Cwynar had the number of big-time offers Bentancur accrued. He had offers from most of the Big Ten Conference schools and almost half of the Southeastern Conference schools.

Kirwan says he lost count at how many major college assistant coaches, usually the tight ends coaches, had stopped by the school. Last month, Bentancur announced his three final choices on Twitter.

Bentancur said he talked with his parents, Patrick and Elizabeth, about the schools. Patrick is 6-6 and played football at D-III Wisconsin-Whitewater.

“I wanted to focus on three schools that I really loved and wanted to make the list,” Bentancur said. “They’re all teams that proved they could compete in the best of games. They’re all schools who have showed so much interest throughout the entire process and teams that use the tight end in their offense quite frequently.”

Bentancur said he visited about a dozen campuses during the recruiting process. Kirwan, in his first year coaching at his alma mater, was thrilled to be a small part of the process.

“Christian comes from a great family – he’s got great parents,” Kirwan said. “That’s the best part about it. They’re totally invested in him. For me, it’s more helping him with things like what he’s looking for in a school. He has such a good head on his shoulders. He and his family have done such a good job through this process. It’s really his decision. I’m just here to be a resource and answer any questions for him along the line.

“It’s absolutely amazing. It was always a dream of mine to be a head coach one day. I don’t think I could have dreamed to have a player of his caliber in my first year as head coach. As a coach, it’s been phenomenal.”

Bentancur also is a standout in basketball, where he averages 21.3 points a game and has 1,250 career points. The Hurricanes’ school record of 1,751 points, set by Adam Pischke in 2016, could be within reach for Bentancur, who plans on playing his entire senior basketball season next year. Many big-time D-I recruits complete graduation requirements early and enroll in college to play spring football with their new teams.

“As good of a football player as he is, he’s just as good of a kid,” Kirwan said. “He’s coachable. He works hard. You never have to worry about him. He’s somebody that doesn’t have to work as hard, with his God-given skills, but still works harder than most people.

“It’s awesome to see. He’s a leader. I can’t say enough good things about that kid. He’s a great kid, great player and exactly what you want as a coach.”