Remember that 48 hours prior to and after 7:00 a.m. on signing day, unlimited phone contact is allowed between college coaches and prospects. So that means those parties can talk as much as they want up until Wednesday, and that began this morning. This is also a dead period so all in-person contact has concluded.
South Carolina has a few targets remaining on the board, and I wanted to bring you all the latest with what I'm hearing on each.
Lithonia (Ga.) MLK CB Wesley Green
Out of all the uncommitted prospects left on USC's board, this is the one I would probably have the highest level of confidence with heading into signing day. Green's announcement will be televised in the 5:00 p.m. hour on FoxSportsCarolinas or FoxSportsSouth (check your local listings) on The New College Football Show. That's the same show D.J. Smith committed on and his came towards the end of the show, so that's probably what we should expect with Green.
The four-star prospect did not make a scheduled final official visit to UGA this past weekend and even before then USC had established a large lead. Everybody on the Georgia and South Carolina side of things thinks Green will be a Gamecock on Wednesday evening. We will have more on Green's recruitment after signing day as well.
Saluda (S.C) DL Dexter Wideman
The Palmetto State product has remained committed to Florida State since his surprising pledge there this summer, but it's a commitment that has seemed to become more and more unsteady over time. Even right after his pledge, Wideman told GamecockCentral.com that he still had USC in the picture and he visited USC just days after committing to FSU for the Gamecocks' Black Magic camp in July. In September, he told me in a sit-down interview that it was 50/50 and strongly hinted it was USC that was actually on top. He eventually stopped answering questions altogether about the strength of his commitment including right after his official visit to Columbia. Wideman is a young man that does have a tough time giving a 'no' to those recruiting him, but there was entirely too much buzz and outright concrete info on what USC's chances were behind the scenes to ignore. If what he was saying was any indication, USC took a big lead and made it a huge lead after the official visit the weekend of January 17.
There was still the visit to Florida State the final weekend before signing day to deal with; all along I had been saying it was the biggest event to watch that could throw a wrench in things. That trip did go very well, from what I've heard. Wideman was joined by the same crew that joined him for the USC official consisting of his mother, grandmother, and a few other family members.
Even following that Florida State visit, the information I've picked up still leads me to believe that South Carolina is going to be the pick on Wednesday when Wideman announces that afternoon. I will be in a position to expand further after signing day. I checked again on his academic situation and I think while it will be tough and an uphill battle for him to qualify, it's at least a possibility. I'm not saying he will qualify and I wouldn't get your hopes up entirely too much, but it's something that would be on the table if Wideman could make a big turnaround. Wideman's another we will have more on post-signing day.
Plantation (Fla.) CB Chris Lammons
In speaking with several people either on the South Carolina, Wisconsin, or totally neutral side of things on Lammons on Monday morning the feel I got was that the thought is that South Carolina has the edge going into Wednesday. One person I spoke with down in south Florida basically said he would be very surprised if it wasn't USC. Our Wisconsin site (BadgerBlitz.com) thinks that while Wisconsin has closed the gap it's going to be USC. A trusted source I spoke with thought USC, but didn't have a high level of confidence on that. In my opinion, this one is fairly close but I haven't spoken to anyone that thinks Wisconsin up to this point. I will say the confidence level would be a good bit lower on Lammons than on Green.
If you missed our update on Theodore (Ala.) TE find it here. Gibson is going to be sticking with his original commitment and sign with Minnesota on Wednesday according to his high school head coach.
Earlier today, I removed JUCO DE Darrius Caldwell from South Carolina's commitment list. I waited quite a while because even when we initially reported the issue that would prevent Caldwell from enrolling at USC (or any SEC school) the chances looked extremely slim anything would change, but a small level of hope was being held out that something would. I checked over the weekend and on Monday and was told that the wise decision would be to remove him from the commitment list. I feel badly for Caldwell because he visited Arizona State this past weekend and while he could get in there, I was told the Sun Devils are facing a numbers crunch and it's questionable that ASU will be able to fit him in the class. Hopefully they can, as this is a bad deal for Caldwell because of a screw-up on previous school Illinois' end.
Here is a look at what time South Carolina signees will be having signing ceremonies or announcements on Wednesday. Keep in mind, on many occasions signees will send scholarship papers to USC before an actual signing ceremony (such as the ones that take place in the evening). Some prospects will just sign and other will have "signing ceremonies". Steve Spurrier and Steve Spurrier Jr. will hold USC's signing day press conference at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday.
7:00 a.m (in Texas). - Jhaustin Thomas
7:30 a.m.: Kalan Ritchie
8:30 a.m.: Joe Blue
8:45 a.m.: Taylor Stallworth
9:00 a.m.: Michael Scarnecchia
9:00 a.m.: Bryson Allen-Williams
10:00 a.m.: Shaq Davidson
10:00 a.m.: Darin Smalls
11 a.m.: Kevin Crosby
11:30 a.m.: Malik Young
1:00 p.m.: Chris Lammons (ANNOUNCEMENT)
1:10 p.m.: Tyshun Samuel
2 p.m.: Donell Stanley
2:45 p.m.: Dexter Wideman (ANNOUNCEMENT)
3:00 p.m.: Al Harris Jr.
3:45 p.m.: Terry Googer
5:00 p.m. hour: Wesley Green (TELEVISED ANNOUNCEMENT: FoxSportsSouth/FoxSportsCarolina - The New College Football Show)
7:00 p.m.: Dante Sawyer
7:00 p.m.: D.J. Smith
This post was edited on 2/3 3:09 PM by Chris Clark
This post was edited on 2/4 1:48 PM by Chris Clark
South Carolina has a few targets remaining on the board, and I wanted to bring you all the latest with what I'm hearing on each.
Lithonia (Ga.) MLK CB Wesley Green
Out of all the uncommitted prospects left on USC's board, this is the one I would probably have the highest level of confidence with heading into signing day. Green's announcement will be televised in the 5:00 p.m. hour on FoxSportsCarolinas or FoxSportsSouth (check your local listings) on The New College Football Show. That's the same show D.J. Smith committed on and his came towards the end of the show, so that's probably what we should expect with Green.
The four-star prospect did not make a scheduled final official visit to UGA this past weekend and even before then USC had established a large lead. Everybody on the Georgia and South Carolina side of things thinks Green will be a Gamecock on Wednesday evening. We will have more on Green's recruitment after signing day as well.
Saluda (S.C) DL Dexter Wideman
The Palmetto State product has remained committed to Florida State since his surprising pledge there this summer, but it's a commitment that has seemed to become more and more unsteady over time. Even right after his pledge, Wideman told GamecockCentral.com that he still had USC in the picture and he visited USC just days after committing to FSU for the Gamecocks' Black Magic camp in July. In September, he told me in a sit-down interview that it was 50/50 and strongly hinted it was USC that was actually on top. He eventually stopped answering questions altogether about the strength of his commitment including right after his official visit to Columbia. Wideman is a young man that does have a tough time giving a 'no' to those recruiting him, but there was entirely too much buzz and outright concrete info on what USC's chances were behind the scenes to ignore. If what he was saying was any indication, USC took a big lead and made it a huge lead after the official visit the weekend of January 17.
There was still the visit to Florida State the final weekend before signing day to deal with; all along I had been saying it was the biggest event to watch that could throw a wrench in things. That trip did go very well, from what I've heard. Wideman was joined by the same crew that joined him for the USC official consisting of his mother, grandmother, and a few other family members.
Even following that Florida State visit, the information I've picked up still leads me to believe that South Carolina is going to be the pick on Wednesday when Wideman announces that afternoon. I will be in a position to expand further after signing day. I checked again on his academic situation and I think while it will be tough and an uphill battle for him to qualify, it's at least a possibility. I'm not saying he will qualify and I wouldn't get your hopes up entirely too much, but it's something that would be on the table if Wideman could make a big turnaround. Wideman's another we will have more on post-signing day.
Plantation (Fla.) CB Chris Lammons
In speaking with several people either on the South Carolina, Wisconsin, or totally neutral side of things on Lammons on Monday morning the feel I got was that the thought is that South Carolina has the edge going into Wednesday. One person I spoke with down in south Florida basically said he would be very surprised if it wasn't USC. Our Wisconsin site (BadgerBlitz.com) thinks that while Wisconsin has closed the gap it's going to be USC. A trusted source I spoke with thought USC, but didn't have a high level of confidence on that. In my opinion, this one is fairly close but I haven't spoken to anyone that thinks Wisconsin up to this point. I will say the confidence level would be a good bit lower on Lammons than on Green.
If you missed our update on Theodore (Ala.) TE find it here. Gibson is going to be sticking with his original commitment and sign with Minnesota on Wednesday according to his high school head coach.
Earlier today, I removed JUCO DE Darrius Caldwell from South Carolina's commitment list. I waited quite a while because even when we initially reported the issue that would prevent Caldwell from enrolling at USC (or any SEC school) the chances looked extremely slim anything would change, but a small level of hope was being held out that something would. I checked over the weekend and on Monday and was told that the wise decision would be to remove him from the commitment list. I feel badly for Caldwell because he visited Arizona State this past weekend and while he could get in there, I was told the Sun Devils are facing a numbers crunch and it's questionable that ASU will be able to fit him in the class. Hopefully they can, as this is a bad deal for Caldwell because of a screw-up on previous school Illinois' end.
Here is a look at what time South Carolina signees will be having signing ceremonies or announcements on Wednesday. Keep in mind, on many occasions signees will send scholarship papers to USC before an actual signing ceremony (such as the ones that take place in the evening). Some prospects will just sign and other will have "signing ceremonies". Steve Spurrier and Steve Spurrier Jr. will hold USC's signing day press conference at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday.
7:00 a.m (in Texas). - Jhaustin Thomas
7:30 a.m.: Kalan Ritchie
8:30 a.m.: Joe Blue
8:45 a.m.: Taylor Stallworth
9:00 a.m.: Michael Scarnecchia
9:00 a.m.: Bryson Allen-Williams
10:00 a.m.: Shaq Davidson
10:00 a.m.: Darin Smalls
11 a.m.: Kevin Crosby
11:30 a.m.: Malik Young
1:00 p.m.: Chris Lammons (ANNOUNCEMENT)
1:10 p.m.: Tyshun Samuel
2 p.m.: Donell Stanley
2:45 p.m.: Dexter Wideman (ANNOUNCEMENT)
3:00 p.m.: Al Harris Jr.
3:45 p.m.: Terry Googer
5:00 p.m. hour: Wesley Green (TELEVISED ANNOUNCEMENT: FoxSportsSouth/FoxSportsCarolina - The New College Football Show)
7:00 p.m.: Dante Sawyer
7:00 p.m.: D.J. Smith
This post was edited on 2/3 3:09 PM by Chris Clark
This post was edited on 2/4 1:48 PM by Chris Clark
