This weekend, Brian Shoemaker and I have been in Atlanta attending the Rivals Publisher Conference, which was very interesting and informative. Once we get back home and get settled in perhaps we can share some of the exciting stuff coming down the pipe on the Rivals.com/Yahoo!Sports end of things and also give you sort of the "state of Rivals", which is also exciting in and of itself.
Beginning on Friday, some of the nation's top football prospects have been pouring into Atlanta from all corners of the country to register for the first ever Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge. This event, the brainchild of Rivals.com CEO Eric Winter ( a genius who has been one of the best things to ever happen to Rivals), is an exclusive event that Rivals plans on hosting in conjunction with VTOSports.com every year.
We will have more coverage this weekend straight from the field, as the players will be competing on Saturday and Sunday. There are some downright elite prospects in this camp, so the competition will be tremendous.
There are also some guys of interest to those of you who love to follow Gamecock recruiting. Today, I got the chance to catch up with several of them. We will be running a few full stories with quotes on some of them, but here are some preliminary notes on what they said and what else I'm hearing.
One of the biggest remaining targets in terms of recruiting ranking left on USC's 2013 board is Delray Beach (Fla.) American Heritage running back visited USC earlier this month and came away talking about taking an official visit to see the Gamecocks again.
Interestingly, it looks like Auburn has positioned itself to be an even bigger threat than the Gamecocks right now. On Friday, the four-star back told me that he wanted to take five official visits, but that right now Auburn and Oklahoma were the only two he was sure he would take. Of course, USC is still certainly in the mix to receive one of those. Lead recruiter Grady Brown and running backs coach Everette Sands have both been involved here.
Just in talking with Bryant a few times recently and some others, I feel like there is a better chance as things stand that he flips to another school, but he will be visiting Oklahoma again at least once. That will give the Sooners a chance to continue efforts to keep him in the fold. Again, it's Auburn right now who seems to be the team with the best chance of pulling him away but the Gamecocks are also in it.
Fort Valley (Ga.) County wide receiver Demarcus Robinson is one of the most talented wide receivers in the Southeast, with a very good combination of size, speed, and playmaking ability.
As we have documented in the past, Robinson is the nephew of former Gamecock and NFL wide receiver Marcus Robinson. Robinson trains some with him during the summer. That relationship certainly does not hurt the Gamecocks, but it is honestly not having a big effect on the recruiting process for the four-star receiver.
Robinson arrived at the Rivals.com Five-Star Challenge registration on Friday with a gray Clemson t-shirt and Tiger wristbands on each wrist. Clemson certainly leads right now but it's not a huge lead. Florida is probably number two right now and Notre Dame, South Carolina, and others are in there as well. He has not been on campus yet at South Carolina, so they really have nowhere to go but up here if he has a good experience on campus. Oklahoma and Oregon were also listed by Robinson as schools he may try to go visit.
The South Carolina staff has been in contact with Robinson and his coaching staff at Peach County and the hope on the USC end is that Robinson will attend the annual Gamecock Showcase in July. I would say that is a strong possibility as of now, as Robinson's schedule should be open that day. Area recruiter Kirk Botkin as well as receivers coach Steve Spurrier Jr. are both working to try to ensure that visit takes place. He wants to make a decision sometime in August before his senior season begins, but may still take other official visits after that.
South Carolina's coaching staff has extended an offer, a no-brainer, to the probable number one prospect in the class of 2014 in Virginia's Da'Shawn Hand. However, he has not had much contact from the staff since the offer was extended. Hand is a very impressive prospect (and person) who I'm excited to see this weekend.
2014 Latta (S.C.) OL D.J. Park but he was not able to make it on such short notice.
2014 DB Jalen Tabor told me on Friday that he may try to make it to a game at South Carolina at some point during the 2012 season.
At this stage, USC is not a major player for Georgia standout linebacker Raekwon McMillan. Schools like Georgia and Ohio State are high on his list. He's got a bit of interest in the Gamecocks, but it is going to take the staff getting him on campus multiple times during the season, etc. to get back in it in my opinion.
Hawaii defensive tackle Scott Pagano currently favors Florida and LSU and did not rule out making a visit sometime to South Carolina if time and finances permit; I would lean towards saying that trip does not happen if I had to make an educated guess. That could always change.
Bamberg (S.C.) Bamberg-Ehrhardt TE/LB [db]Kevin Crosby[/db] definitely wants to play an h-back or tight end position on offense in college, preferring that over linebacker. I mentioned recently that Alabama and South Carolina were both recruiting him as such, and Crosby reiterated that on Friday when I spoke with him. USC was actually the first program to offer here, but I get the feel that Alabama may be out in front for him. He's planning on cutting his list eventually down to ten, then five. I think the Gamecocks should survive at least the first of those cuts. Publicly, he is not claiming any leaders. He camped in Tuscaloosa recently. He was on campus last weekend at USC for the team seven-on-seven camp and talked with recruiter Everette Sands and tight ends coach Joe Robinson.
For in-depth coverage of the Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge including photo/video/analysis and much more, please make sure you visit this link which is the landing page for all this weekend's content.
This post was edited on 6/22 5:06 PM by Chris Clark
Beginning on Friday, some of the nation's top football prospects have been pouring into Atlanta from all corners of the country to register for the first ever Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge. This event, the brainchild of Rivals.com CEO Eric Winter ( a genius who has been one of the best things to ever happen to Rivals), is an exclusive event that Rivals plans on hosting in conjunction with VTOSports.com every year.
We will have more coverage this weekend straight from the field, as the players will be competing on Saturday and Sunday. There are some downright elite prospects in this camp, so the competition will be tremendous.
There are also some guys of interest to those of you who love to follow Gamecock recruiting. Today, I got the chance to catch up with several of them. We will be running a few full stories with quotes on some of them, but here are some preliminary notes on what they said and what else I'm hearing.
One of the biggest remaining targets in terms of recruiting ranking left on USC's 2013 board is Delray Beach (Fla.) American Heritage running back visited USC earlier this month and came away talking about taking an official visit to see the Gamecocks again.
Interestingly, it looks like Auburn has positioned itself to be an even bigger threat than the Gamecocks right now. On Friday, the four-star back told me that he wanted to take five official visits, but that right now Auburn and Oklahoma were the only two he was sure he would take. Of course, USC is still certainly in the mix to receive one of those. Lead recruiter Grady Brown and running backs coach Everette Sands have both been involved here.
Just in talking with Bryant a few times recently and some others, I feel like there is a better chance as things stand that he flips to another school, but he will be visiting Oklahoma again at least once. That will give the Sooners a chance to continue efforts to keep him in the fold. Again, it's Auburn right now who seems to be the team with the best chance of pulling him away but the Gamecocks are also in it.
Fort Valley (Ga.) County wide receiver Demarcus Robinson is one of the most talented wide receivers in the Southeast, with a very good combination of size, speed, and playmaking ability.
As we have documented in the past, Robinson is the nephew of former Gamecock and NFL wide receiver Marcus Robinson. Robinson trains some with him during the summer. That relationship certainly does not hurt the Gamecocks, but it is honestly not having a big effect on the recruiting process for the four-star receiver.
Robinson arrived at the Rivals.com Five-Star Challenge registration on Friday with a gray Clemson t-shirt and Tiger wristbands on each wrist. Clemson certainly leads right now but it's not a huge lead. Florida is probably number two right now and Notre Dame, South Carolina, and others are in there as well. He has not been on campus yet at South Carolina, so they really have nowhere to go but up here if he has a good experience on campus. Oklahoma and Oregon were also listed by Robinson as schools he may try to go visit.
The South Carolina staff has been in contact with Robinson and his coaching staff at Peach County and the hope on the USC end is that Robinson will attend the annual Gamecock Showcase in July. I would say that is a strong possibility as of now, as Robinson's schedule should be open that day. Area recruiter Kirk Botkin as well as receivers coach Steve Spurrier Jr. are both working to try to ensure that visit takes place. He wants to make a decision sometime in August before his senior season begins, but may still take other official visits after that.
South Carolina's coaching staff has extended an offer, a no-brainer, to the probable number one prospect in the class of 2014 in Virginia's Da'Shawn Hand. However, he has not had much contact from the staff since the offer was extended. Hand is a very impressive prospect (and person) who I'm excited to see this weekend.
2014 Latta (S.C.) OL D.J. Park but he was not able to make it on such short notice.
2014 DB Jalen Tabor told me on Friday that he may try to make it to a game at South Carolina at some point during the 2012 season.
At this stage, USC is not a major player for Georgia standout linebacker Raekwon McMillan. Schools like Georgia and Ohio State are high on his list. He's got a bit of interest in the Gamecocks, but it is going to take the staff getting him on campus multiple times during the season, etc. to get back in it in my opinion.
Hawaii defensive tackle Scott Pagano currently favors Florida and LSU and did not rule out making a visit sometime to South Carolina if time and finances permit; I would lean towards saying that trip does not happen if I had to make an educated guess. That could always change.
Bamberg (S.C.) Bamberg-Ehrhardt TE/LB [db]Kevin Crosby[/db] definitely wants to play an h-back or tight end position on offense in college, preferring that over linebacker. I mentioned recently that Alabama and South Carolina were both recruiting him as such, and Crosby reiterated that on Friday when I spoke with him. USC was actually the first program to offer here, but I get the feel that Alabama may be out in front for him. He's planning on cutting his list eventually down to ten, then five. I think the Gamecocks should survive at least the first of those cuts. Publicly, he is not claiming any leaders. He camped in Tuscaloosa recently. He was on campus last weekend at USC for the team seven-on-seven camp and talked with recruiter Everette Sands and tight ends coach Joe Robinson.
For in-depth coverage of the Rivals100 Five-Star Challenge including photo/video/analysis and much more, please make sure you visit this link which is the landing page for all this weekend's content.
This post was edited on 6/22 5:06 PM by Chris Clark
