Zephaniah Maea looked to be on the fast track toward announcing a spring time commitment, with a tentative date set for mid-May before the ongoing recruiting dead period was extended.

Now, the three-star inside linebacker from Henderson (Nev.) Liberty appears to be in a wait-and-see mode.

A few programs are standing out to the physical 6-foot-1, 230-pound prospect.

"Utah, Utah State, Washington State, Hawaii, San Diego State, Boise State and UNLV are all in contact with me quite a bit," Maea told 247Sports. "It’s been a very tight relationship with them and it’ll be very hard to decide when the commitment day comes. I've just been researching all of them and breaking down the type of defenses they run, the way they coach and just the environment they have around the programs.

"Specifically those are the schools that I will be visiting after the situation when the coronavirus is done. Colorado, Minnesota and Oregon State are some new schools that haven't offered but I've had some contact with lately. Most likely my commitment would be before the season, so that way I won’t have to focus on the season and my commitment, I can just focus on winning state back to back."

Thickly built with a bulky upper body and strong lower half, Maea has a filled out frame with not much room to add mass. Still, he possesses some nice upside for the next level. A physical tackler who thrives in box, Maea does well to chase down ball carriers in the flats, with ability to move from sideline to sideline, and he repeatedly charges forward to attack gaps at the line of scrimmage. Although he could continue to refine his drop-back technique and overall fluidity in space, particularly in coverage against tight ends, Maea is a potential multi-year starter at Power Five level.

In 15 games as a junior last season, Maea was credited with 95 total tackles and also rushed for a pair of touchdowns as a special goal-line option for Liberty.

Maea is the nation's No. 39 rated inside linebacker and No. 6 overall prospect in the state of Nevada for the 2021 class, per the industry-generated 247Sports rankings.