Contact with coaches, media interviews, keeping up with studies and lifting schedules. All in a week's work for offensive lineman Nolan Rucci since early September, when schools were able to start contacting him via private message. Now with a dead period through the end of the month, he can take it all in and possibly lay out the next steps.

“Ever since Sept. 1, phone’s been pretty busy with coaches, interviews and stuff like that, but it's not in the doldrums yet and still having a good time with it," Rucci told AllBadgers.com on Monday. "Then hopefully, having this dead period here in February, get a little time off, just kind of take a break from coaches coming in and visits and stuff like that. Probably just taking this period just to kind of map everything out.”

Many of the nation's powerhouse programs seek Rucci's services at the next level. As a class of 2021 lineman, he rates as a five-star recruit, the No. 18 player and No. 4 offensive tackle in the country by 247Sports composite rankings. The same recruiting service lists 26 offers from the who's who of college football: Clemson, Notre Dame, Penn State, Alabama, LSU, Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, among others

Head coaches have come out to Warwick High School in Lititz, Pa., to see Rucci in person recently. How many?

"Quite a few," Rucci said. "I don't know if I can name all of them."

The standout prep lineman then proceeded to rattle off Notre Dame, Ohio State, Clemson, Penn State, Michigan and Rutgers, "just to name a few."

According to Rucci, UW tight ends coach Mickey Turner popped by the other week. Of course, the assistant has Nolan's older brother, 2019 signee Hayden, in his position group.

The relationship between Rucci, Turner and offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Joe Rudolph has grown.

"It’s been great and obviously having that connection up there with my brother, I probably get to know him obviously more as a coach, too, because you get to hear basically from the horse's mouth how he is as a coach," Rucci said. "You get to see firsthand because obviously my brother's experiencing it every day, whether he likes it or not, he's seeing him for who he really is. He has great things to say about him.

"Obviously Coach Rudolph, too, a really cool dude. I could probably just sit for an hour talking about everything about football and just sit down, have a great conversation with him. We're definitely developing that relationship."

Rucci stated the frequency of contact with the Wisconsin staff, when said contact is allowed, is about once a week. That includes Rudolph, Turner here and there, even head coach Paul Chryst every so often.

He appreciates that rate, especially with his phone "getting blown up almost 24-7 just with coaches texting during school and everything like that."

"It’s just nice to have a coach that understands that I don't need a text like every other five minutes just to let them know that they're still interested," Rucci said. "It's been really cool just kind of going back and forth every week or so just with them.”

Nolan (Left) and Hayden (Right) Rucci at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1; Photo courtesy of Rucci Family (Stacy Rucci)

Both of his parents -- Stacy and Todd -- were standout athletes at Penn State. Stacy claimed All-America honors in field hockey while Todd eventually moved on to an NFL career with the New England Patriots. Appreciative of their approach in his recruiting process, Nolan feels no pressure from them in regards to where to play at the next level despite that Nittany Lion pedigree.

"The nice thing about my parents is that, even though they're both from Penn State, and they've obviously both played there, they're not pushing me to make any sort of decision," Rucci said. "I think you saw that with Hayden as well that they're really open-minded to who we are. Obviously, we're our own person and we have our own dislikes and likes. That new coach (PSU offensive line coach Phil Trautwein) is a really cool dude, and I'm looking forward to getting to know him more, but obviously right now it's just open to everybody.”

A high school junior, his recruiting process likely will begin to come more into focus as 2020's National Signing Day passed on Feb. 5. Though much is not concretely set at the moment, one unofficial visit Rucci believes he has locked in will be to Notre Dame in the spring.

"That March 20th date, they’re having a bunch of offensive linemen up for an unofficial (visit)," Rucci said. “Then we're hoping to get up to Wisconsin at some point. Maybe in June, I think is when they do a lot of their officials. Something along those lines I think is what we’re thinking right now, but nothing’s set in stone."

For that matter, Rucci -- who claimed ALL-USA High School Football Offensive second-team honors last season as a junior -- also wants to travel to some programs he has not seen yet.

"Maybe do a little southern tour, just get down to some of those schools, and then hopefully at some point, maybe do the West Coast as well," Rucci said. "I think the ones in driving distance, obviously I can get to pretty easily. So definitely getting up there sometime this spring, and then, as far as officials go, I really have no idea yet."

With visits yet to be determined in terms of dates and the particular programs to check out, Rucci did acknowledge a timeline as to when he hopes to take officials and make a potential decision regarding his collegiate home.

"I'd like to kind of knock them out in the spring, and then probably that Wisconsin one will be my last one, just kind of early June," Rucci said. "Then hopefully by that point, I'll have a pretty good idea in my head and hopefully be able to make a decision by the end of June.”