I would stay away from the high end rods until your sure this is what he likes as a hobby, I used a 9 foot ugly stick with a Penn 6500ss for years it was a great rod and reel and landed plenty of quality fish
I agree. A lot of people swear by Star Rods. Also, Tsunami makes a good rod... they have a great warranty and are easy to deal with in case it was to break.
Like TattooBob said, I don't see the need to go super high end either.