Hilinski Hears from MacIntyre

QB Kelly Hilinski is one of the many players nationally who has planned an extremely busy month of January. He will visit Colorado, Arkansas, Yale, and Columbia before National Signing Day. He performed well at Saturday's Cal State Game.

VISALIA, CA -- Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks, CA) quarterback Kelly Hilinski talked to new Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre for the first time Friday morning. He was impressed with what he heard.

"I like his vision and sense of direction," said the six-foot-six, 220-pound gunslinger, who had also developed "good relations" with Jon Embree's former Colorado staff. "He has a plan."

Coincidentally, Arkansas -- Hilinski's other BCS school of interest -- has also experienced a coaching change. But the quarterback's interest in the Razorbacks also remains steady after Bret Bielema took over three weeks ago. Colorado and Arkansas will sign at least a quarterback each in their 2013 recruiting classes. Hilinski said both are still deciding whether or not to take a second signal caller, in which case he'd get the nod.

"It's really contingent upon that," he said.

Hilinski will visit Boulder and Fayetteville in January. He'll also take trips to Ivy League schools Yale and Columbia, a program that shown great interest in Stanford transfer quarterback Brett Nottingham.

Hilinski played well in the Cal State Game, helping ice the South's 19-14 victory with a few solid quarterback runs. Before the game, he told me that he's been working on his agility and comfort level in the pocket, and those two improvements shone through -- even on Saturday's all-mud playing field.

"There are still a lot more improvements I want to make, though," he said.

With his height and his smarts, Hilinski is a prospect who shows plenty of upside. That much was apparent not only during his positive scrambles Saturday, but also through the bullets he fired on the run during Friday's practice.

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David Lombardi covers recruiting for FOX Sports Next. Check him out at www.davidlombardisports.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidMLombardi.