The drive is nearly 400 miles and includes five states.

Yet when Mark Cann completed his trip from Huntington, W.Va., to Landrum last week, he knew where his future home would be.

The Landrum High quarterback, after receiving interest but no offers from ACC and SEC programs, decided to accept a scholarship offer to Marshall while on an unofficial visit.

"I feel good about it," Cann said. "I really like the coaching staff. They make me feel at home. I like the atmosphere."

A 6-foot-4, 215-pound left-hander, Cann had been in the process of setting up visits to N.C. State and Marshall. He is due to play in the North-South All-Star Game in Conway next month and thought he might wait until then to make his college choice.

But after taking an unofficial visit to see Marshall beat UTEP on Nov. 18, he saw no reason to wait.

"Marshall is a great fit for him," said John Cann, Mark's father and his coach at Landrum. "They really wanted him. From day one, they never really wavered. Any kid, if he's got a shot at ACC or SEC, wants to explore that. But he's at peace with where he's going and he's real excited about."

Cann first started as a freshman at Landrum due to injuries and took over the quarterback job full time as a sophomore. Cann has also been named all-state twice in baseball and starred for the Cardinals basketball team.

During his football career, he threw for 5,549 yards with 41 touchdowns -- 18of them this season, when he threw for 1,575 yards.

"He got thrown into the fire as a ninth grader," John Cann said. "He's progressed into a mature leader on and off the field. The biggest upside to him is when he's only playing one sport, I think the upside and the potential is incredible."

The Cardinals and the Canns did not have an easy season this fall. Injuries to five starters on offense, including North Carolina-bound tackle Chris Gray, caused Landrum to start 0-4.

"He was running for his life the first month," John Cann said.

The Cardinals got healthy at midseason and went on to win five of their next seven games and tie for the Region 2-1A championship. But Allendale-Fairfax handed Landrum a 40-21 first-round playoff loss.

So he started thinking about where his college home would be. Having attended camps at Vanderbilt, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama and N.C. State, he was familiar with coaching staffs in the ACC and the SEC.

But schools in those leagues had offers pending to other quarterbacks. Cann told his father he had become the "if guy" -- if this player or that player did not commit, a school may look at Cann.

So with an offer in hand from Marshall, and having had good vibes about the place on his unofficial visit, Mark Cann made his choice.

"After riding home from Marshall, I said it's kind of late for something to happen for a quarterback," he said. "Why wait? Let's go ahead and commit."

He will play for Marshall coach Mark Snyder at a school that has produced a pair of NFL first-round draft picks at quarterback since 2000 in Byron Leftwich and Chad Pennington.

Cann is not the only quarterback in Marshall's 2007 recruiting class. Chris Smith, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound dual-threat quarterback from South Point, Ohio, has also committed to the Thundering Herd.

But Mark Cann, who met Smith during his visit to Marshall, does not mind the competition.

"I'm going to go up there and work hard, cut it loose and see what happens," he said. "I know it's a big step up and I'm looking forward to it."