2016 Gamecock commitment Kyle Davis started his season off with a bang on Friday night, hauling in an 80-yard touchdown pass ultimately in a losing effort to Sandy Creek. I caught a portion of that game on television and was really impressed with what I saw out of Davis. Having seen him in person back in July, I knew he was as physically impressive as a receiver prospect that I have seen but I didn't have a great feel for his skills other than his highlight tape.
Davis' two most impressive plays of the night came on that aforementioned 80-yard touchdown catch (a flea-flicker on the first play from scrimmage), and he also had a catch on a tipped ball where he was running over the middle of the field, nabbed it without breaking stride and gained some extra yardage. Davis knows how to use his big frame to shield defenders and make tough catches, and while not a burner he is tough to bring down in the open field. The four-star prospect has the look of a very nice early pickup for the Gamecocks in the 2016 class.
USC's other commitment from the Archer program, 2015 tight end Connor Redmond, was forced to miss the game last night due to a nagging back injury that he's had. Redmond is basically week to week right now, and very disappointed that he couldn't be out there on Friday. He's hopeful that he can return in the near future.
Speaking of big Friday night performances, I spoke with two trusted sources that watched USC offensive line commitment Zack Bailey in action last night that absolutely raved about his play. One source estimated he had over a dozen pancake blocks and another described it as "one after another." In the second half, Summerville basically kept the ball on the ground (had the ball for 18 out of 24 minutes) and either ran plays right behind Bailey or the side that he pulled to over and over. That just reiterates: very nice pickup in a strong OL class for Shawn Elliott.
Summerville has another prospect that is definitely one to watch in the 2017 class in Cam Burnette. We have mentioned Burnette before here on GC after seeing him at USC's camp last summer, but he's come on even more lately for Summerville. He's now close to 6-foot-1, and some involved in Summerville's program believe he's the best route runner in years that the school has produced. Burnette is one we will be keeping an eye on going forward, for sure.
One of USC's early verbal offers in the 2016 class was to Goose Creek's Javon Kinlaw. His clear best upside is as a future offensive lineman, and the Goose Creek staff tried him at offensive line the first couple practices of preseason. Kinlaw's preference is to play defensive end, but college coaches are viewing him on the offensive line. If he were to devote his future to the offensive side of the ball (and learn under noted OL coach Buddy King, who has coached in college as well as tutored Brandon Shell and Zack Bailey) then he has some upside there. We'll keep an eye on his progress on and off the field.
We haven't reported with certainty yet which prep school that Dexter Wideman would be attending up until now. In the past, we've mentioned the possibility of Fork Union or "another program", which we can now say is Camden Military given that Wideman posted it to Facebook (as Wes Mitchell reported early this morning). This one has gone back and forth some; at one point it looked like Camden Military was more likely, then Fork Union. At this point, it looks like Camden Military will be the destination. I really don't know the reason why; it is closer to home but I haven't really heard why Wideman is being placed there as opposed to in Virginia. If anything changes for whatever reason then we will let everyone know but Wideman is set to leave this weekend for the school. If all goes well, then he will be able to enroll at USC next January.
As for Darin Smalls, our last couple updates indicated that he would either be a prep school guy or a grayshirt but that either way, it would be January before he would arrive at USC if that happened. Up until recently Smalls was still taking classes during the summer. The latest I've picked up is that it looks like he will make the grades, but he's going to of course need to wait until January to enroll. I can tell you that USC will indeed take him under that scenario, so he would enroll in January 2015 and thus be able to count back to the 2014 class.
In the last Insider Report, we brought you the news that Rivals250 defensive end Kyree Campbell out of the 2016 class had interest in visiting South Carolina next summer. I checked with some additional sources in the last couple days, and I'm told that Ohio State is well out in front for him right now. If he does decide to prolong his recruitment and take more visits next summer then perhaps the Gamecocks will have a chance to make an impression. He does appear to have some early legitimate interest.
I'll end this edition with more on USC's top 2016 quarterback target, Brandon McIlwain. As our subscribers know, the Pennsylvania product recently trimmed his list down to six schools. In no public order, it's South Carolina, Auburn, Florida, Duke, Virginia Tech, and Penn State.
I'm still confident that South Carolina has an edge here, and a substantial one. I also have reason to believe that another program or two is out in front in the pecking order (so his list is "top heavy" if that makes sense, behind the scenes).
One of the notions that our subscribers have asked about multiple times is that Penn State would appear to be the biggest competition, given James Franklin's strong recruiting reputation and the fact that Penn State is
an in-state school. I've shot that
notion down before, and I am still firmly in the camp that others are a bigger
challenger to USC right now. Even before
McIlwain released that top six, we told everyone that Penn State would make it
but that the Nittany Lions were not as high on McIlwain's list as one would
think. I'm told that's still the case as
well. Auburn, Virginia Tech, and Florida
are all probably bigger competition than Penn State at this point based on what
I've heard from multiple sources very familiar with his recruitment.
Penn State isn't a true "in-state" program to McIlwain. Yes, he lives there with his family right now but his family will travel to his games no matter where he goes to school and the family moved there from California. His father went to South Carolina, his mother to Georgia, and his grandmother lives in Irmo in addition to the fact that his family loves vacationing in Charleston. McIlwain isn't afraid of competition at all, but it is worth nothing that Brandon Wimbush is heading to Happy Valley in the 2015 class (and those two are friends and talk often). If Wimbush had ultimately flipped to Stanford as it looked like would happen at some point, then perhaps that would have opened things up a bit more with McIlwain but it did not play out that way.
You'll notice that all of the programs on McIlwain's list save for Penn State are "warm weather" or "warmer weather" places. Florida has Kurt Roper, who McIlwain likes and knows from the Gator OC's time at Duke. David Cutcliffe's Blue Devils are doing an excellent job coaching and recruiting and also have a good relationship with McIlwain and his family. Auburn has a great offense and is a strong program, and Virginia Tech has some intriguing early playing time opportunities. Still, the job that G.A. Mangus has done with McIlwain, all the ties to South Carolina, and McIlwain's numerous visits to Columbia have USC still out in front by a good margin here and I think all of that makes USC tough to beat.
Davis' two most impressive plays of the night came on that aforementioned 80-yard touchdown catch (a flea-flicker on the first play from scrimmage), and he also had a catch on a tipped ball where he was running over the middle of the field, nabbed it without breaking stride and gained some extra yardage. Davis knows how to use his big frame to shield defenders and make tough catches, and while not a burner he is tough to bring down in the open field. The four-star prospect has the look of a very nice early pickup for the Gamecocks in the 2016 class.
USC's other commitment from the Archer program, 2015 tight end Connor Redmond, was forced to miss the game last night due to a nagging back injury that he's had. Redmond is basically week to week right now, and very disappointed that he couldn't be out there on Friday. He's hopeful that he can return in the near future.
Speaking of big Friday night performances, I spoke with two trusted sources that watched USC offensive line commitment Zack Bailey in action last night that absolutely raved about his play. One source estimated he had over a dozen pancake blocks and another described it as "one after another." In the second half, Summerville basically kept the ball on the ground (had the ball for 18 out of 24 minutes) and either ran plays right behind Bailey or the side that he pulled to over and over. That just reiterates: very nice pickup in a strong OL class for Shawn Elliott.
Summerville has another prospect that is definitely one to watch in the 2017 class in Cam Burnette. We have mentioned Burnette before here on GC after seeing him at USC's camp last summer, but he's come on even more lately for Summerville. He's now close to 6-foot-1, and some involved in Summerville's program believe he's the best route runner in years that the school has produced. Burnette is one we will be keeping an eye on going forward, for sure.
One of USC's early verbal offers in the 2016 class was to Goose Creek's Javon Kinlaw. His clear best upside is as a future offensive lineman, and the Goose Creek staff tried him at offensive line the first couple practices of preseason. Kinlaw's preference is to play defensive end, but college coaches are viewing him on the offensive line. If he were to devote his future to the offensive side of the ball (and learn under noted OL coach Buddy King, who has coached in college as well as tutored Brandon Shell and Zack Bailey) then he has some upside there. We'll keep an eye on his progress on and off the field.
We haven't reported with certainty yet which prep school that Dexter Wideman would be attending up until now. In the past, we've mentioned the possibility of Fork Union or "another program", which we can now say is Camden Military given that Wideman posted it to Facebook (as Wes Mitchell reported early this morning). This one has gone back and forth some; at one point it looked like Camden Military was more likely, then Fork Union. At this point, it looks like Camden Military will be the destination. I really don't know the reason why; it is closer to home but I haven't really heard why Wideman is being placed there as opposed to in Virginia. If anything changes for whatever reason then we will let everyone know but Wideman is set to leave this weekend for the school. If all goes well, then he will be able to enroll at USC next January.
As for Darin Smalls, our last couple updates indicated that he would either be a prep school guy or a grayshirt but that either way, it would be January before he would arrive at USC if that happened. Up until recently Smalls was still taking classes during the summer. The latest I've picked up is that it looks like he will make the grades, but he's going to of course need to wait until January to enroll. I can tell you that USC will indeed take him under that scenario, so he would enroll in January 2015 and thus be able to count back to the 2014 class.
In the last Insider Report, we brought you the news that Rivals250 defensive end Kyree Campbell out of the 2016 class had interest in visiting South Carolina next summer. I checked with some additional sources in the last couple days, and I'm told that Ohio State is well out in front for him right now. If he does decide to prolong his recruitment and take more visits next summer then perhaps the Gamecocks will have a chance to make an impression. He does appear to have some early legitimate interest.
I'll end this edition with more on USC's top 2016 quarterback target, Brandon McIlwain. As our subscribers know, the Pennsylvania product recently trimmed his list down to six schools. In no public order, it's South Carolina, Auburn, Florida, Duke, Virginia Tech, and Penn State.
I'm still confident that South Carolina has an edge here, and a substantial one. I also have reason to believe that another program or two is out in front in the pecking order (so his list is "top heavy" if that makes sense, behind the scenes).
One of the notions that our subscribers have asked about multiple times is that Penn State would appear to be the biggest competition, given James Franklin's strong recruiting reputation and the fact that Penn State is
an in-state school. I've shot that
notion down before, and I am still firmly in the camp that others are a bigger
challenger to USC right now. Even before
McIlwain released that top six, we told everyone that Penn State would make it
but that the Nittany Lions were not as high on McIlwain's list as one would
think. I'm told that's still the case as
well. Auburn, Virginia Tech, and Florida
are all probably bigger competition than Penn State at this point based on what
I've heard from multiple sources very familiar with his recruitment.
Penn State isn't a true "in-state" program to McIlwain. Yes, he lives there with his family right now but his family will travel to his games no matter where he goes to school and the family moved there from California. His father went to South Carolina, his mother to Georgia, and his grandmother lives in Irmo in addition to the fact that his family loves vacationing in Charleston. McIlwain isn't afraid of competition at all, but it is worth nothing that Brandon Wimbush is heading to Happy Valley in the 2015 class (and those two are friends and talk often). If Wimbush had ultimately flipped to Stanford as it looked like would happen at some point, then perhaps that would have opened things up a bit more with McIlwain but it did not play out that way.
You'll notice that all of the programs on McIlwain's list save for Penn State are "warm weather" or "warmer weather" places. Florida has Kurt Roper, who McIlwain likes and knows from the Gator OC's time at Duke. David Cutcliffe's Blue Devils are doing an excellent job coaching and recruiting and also have a good relationship with McIlwain and his family. Auburn has a great offense and is a strong program, and Virginia Tech has some intriguing early playing time opportunities. Still, the job that G.A. Mangus has done with McIlwain, all the ties to South Carolina, and McIlwain's numerous visits to Columbia have USC still out in front by a good margin here and I think all of that makes USC tough to beat.
