C
Collyn Taylor
Guest
--This was the first weekend of the July live period, a chance for coaches to see guys play with their AAU teams over the course of the weekend. All of South Carolina’s assistants were out and evaluating players with Frank Martin making multiple stops in multiple towns to watch guys play.
For starters, a look at some of the key guys the staff watched over the course of the weekend:
--I got to watch Jazian Gortman and Malik Reneau play and left impressed with both of them. Gortman is obviously a top 15 player and looked like it despite losing the game he played Thursday afternoon. He’s an explosive athlete and is getting plenty of other interest. South Carolina is fighting tooth and nail to land him and gain traction in his recruitment and Gortman is at least willing to listen. He’s planning trips to Alabama, NC State and Miami and mentioned talking with his dad about coming back to South Carolina for another visit sometime in August and September. He was already on campus in June for an unofficial.
Nate Oates, Steve Forbes, Jim Larrañaga were all on hand to watch Gortman Thursday along with Frank Martin. We’ll see if South Carolina can get back into the thick of it, but the staff is actively pushing hard in his recruitment.
--Reneau still needs to work some on his body but is fluid in the post and looked good around the rim as well. I like his game a lot and he’s hovering around No. 50 in the 2022 class. Reneau is from Miami where Frank Martin obviously has connections, and I spoke with him and Chuck Martin is the assistant handling a lot of his recruitment. Frank Martin watched him multiple times over the weekend and Reneau, from when I watched him, looked impressive.
--We had something up today on GG Jackson, who took an unofficial visit near the end of June and the Gamecocks watched him play some this weekend, including both of his games Friday night. The Gamecocks have done well getting in and getting in early with Jackson and are one of the few schools standing out early in his recruitment. It’s still a very long way to go in his recruitment, but South Carolina is again positioned well and Jackson’s been receptive to what they’re saying.
--A 2023 guy to keep an eye on is guard Jaylen Curry, who was watched by Frank Martin and Chuck Martin Friday night in the same game as GG Jackson. He’s getting interest from USF, Pittsburgh, Xavier and others and South Carolina’s shown some interest but they haven’t offered yet. Frank Martin is the one who’s reached out.
--A guy I left impressed with was Wesley Tubbs III, who took an unofficial visit to South Carolina the final week of June. He’s someone Will Bailey is recruiting and taking the lead with him. Tubbs is incredibly quick and athletic with a projectable frame. He’s already up to 6-foot-7 as a high school junior and can operate as a guard or a wing (he played some guard this weekend but probably projects more as a wing).
--We mentioned it in a post last week, but Josh Gray is officially on campus and going to start workouts with the team. He’s right around 7-feet tall and the hope is he will be able to help defensively especially this year just because of his size. He probably fits better into what Frank Martin likes to run compared to Will Wade at LSU. The Tigers like to play small and Gray doesn’t necessarily fit that mold. Ta’Quan Woodley is the last remaining guy on the team to not make it down to campus just yet but the Gamecocks are hoping to get him down here this week as his high school year finishes up.
We’ll have much more this week on almost all of these targets and potentially some team notes now that workouts have been going for a while.
For starters, a look at some of the key guys the staff watched over the course of the weekend:
--I got to watch Jazian Gortman and Malik Reneau play and left impressed with both of them. Gortman is obviously a top 15 player and looked like it despite losing the game he played Thursday afternoon. He’s an explosive athlete and is getting plenty of other interest. South Carolina is fighting tooth and nail to land him and gain traction in his recruitment and Gortman is at least willing to listen. He’s planning trips to Alabama, NC State and Miami and mentioned talking with his dad about coming back to South Carolina for another visit sometime in August and September. He was already on campus in June for an unofficial.
Nate Oates, Steve Forbes, Jim Larrañaga were all on hand to watch Gortman Thursday along with Frank Martin. We’ll see if South Carolina can get back into the thick of it, but the staff is actively pushing hard in his recruitment.
--Reneau still needs to work some on his body but is fluid in the post and looked good around the rim as well. I like his game a lot and he’s hovering around No. 50 in the 2022 class. Reneau is from Miami where Frank Martin obviously has connections, and I spoke with him and Chuck Martin is the assistant handling a lot of his recruitment. Frank Martin watched him multiple times over the weekend and Reneau, from when I watched him, looked impressive.
--We had something up today on GG Jackson, who took an unofficial visit near the end of June and the Gamecocks watched him play some this weekend, including both of his games Friday night. The Gamecocks have done well getting in and getting in early with Jackson and are one of the few schools standing out early in his recruitment. It’s still a very long way to go in his recruitment, but South Carolina is again positioned well and Jackson’s been receptive to what they’re saying.
--A 2023 guy to keep an eye on is guard Jaylen Curry, who was watched by Frank Martin and Chuck Martin Friday night in the same game as GG Jackson. He’s getting interest from USF, Pittsburgh, Xavier and others and South Carolina’s shown some interest but they haven’t offered yet. Frank Martin is the one who’s reached out.
--A guy I left impressed with was Wesley Tubbs III, who took an unofficial visit to South Carolina the final week of June. He’s someone Will Bailey is recruiting and taking the lead with him. Tubbs is incredibly quick and athletic with a projectable frame. He’s already up to 6-foot-7 as a high school junior and can operate as a guard or a wing (he played some guard this weekend but probably projects more as a wing).
--We mentioned it in a post last week, but Josh Gray is officially on campus and going to start workouts with the team. He’s right around 7-feet tall and the hope is he will be able to help defensively especially this year just because of his size. He probably fits better into what Frank Martin likes to run compared to Will Wade at LSU. The Tigers like to play small and Gray doesn’t necessarily fit that mold. Ta’Quan Woodley is the last remaining guy on the team to not make it down to campus just yet but the Gamecocks are hoping to get him down here this week as his high school year finishes up.
We’ll have much more this week on almost all of these targets and potentially some team notes now that workouts have been going for a while.
