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We’ve already noted most of the expected visitors for this weekend, but here’s a refresher on the list…
Four-star cornerback Johnny Dixon was, as of Friday morning, already en route to Columbia to begin a weekend unofficial visit. The Florida product utilized his official visit to Columbia over the summer and has been essentially down to Penn State and South Carolina as of late.
The Gamecocks are Dixon’s preferred team, and he could indeed wind up in the class at some point. We’ll see if the timing is right this weekend or if the process is prolonged. USC’s staff has continued to monitor Dixon’s progress this season as he’s played his way back into game shape after sustaining a knee injury last year.
Also expected in, this for an official visit, is Tennessee’s Matthew Bedford, the three-star offensive tackle prospect currently committed to Indiana.
Mullins (South Carolina) athlete Xavier Legette will be on campus for the Akron game as well. The wide receiver prospect should still be considered a South Carolina lean at this stage.
GamecockCentral.com has also been told that Hammond 2020 defensive lineman Jordan Burch, a longtime priority for Will Muschamp, could be on hand.
We noted earlier in the week that running backs coach Bobby Bentley will play host to one of his top 2020 running back targets in Georgia’s Cartavious Bigbsy, ranked by Rivals.com as one of the top overall prospects in his class.
In-state 2023 quarterback Raheim Jeter, as well as 2020 Myrtle Beach quarterback commitment Luke Doty round out the visitor list.
Another notable visitor will be discussed in the next section…
South Carolina suffered a frustrating loss to Florida down in the Swamp this season, but Will Muschamp could be positioning the Gamecocks to strike quite the recruiting blow against his former employer…
Roswell (Georgia) linebacker and former Gaffney product Tyron Hopper will also be in town for an official visit this weekend. As a refresher, here is what we wrote on the four-star linebacker on Wednesday…
“Several weeks ago, it looked like USC would likely stand pat with those two in the class, although the expectation was that the Gamecocks would continue communicating with Florida commitment Tyron Hopper.That communication has continued, South Carolina's needs and numbers have evolved, and the stove is now hot again. Hopper, who still has family in the Palmetto State, is likely to be in Columbia this weekend visiting with the staff. There are some folks close to Hopper who would like to see him at South Carolina. We're monitoring this one closely.”
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Back to other prospects: we wrote about two prominent defensive back targets this week in Jaydon Hill and Chris Steele, the former a Gator verbal commitment and the latter a five-star prospect considered for some time to be a Gator lean after backing off an earlier pledge to Southern Cal.
We noted on Wednesday that Steele should no longer be considered a lock to the Gators. The California product received a home visit from Florida assistants Ron English and Charlton Warren on Thursday night after a contingent from Southern Cal met with him at home back on Monday. Steele told Rivals.com this week that South Carolina is expected in California on Monday. After a fairly length period from October onward, there was not much cooking between Steele and the Gamecocks. Things rekindled recently, and there have been plenty of positive communications between Steele, his family, and the Gamecock staff.
As for Hill, he was visited on Wednesday night by Florida assistant Charlton Warren and by USC defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson on Thursday night. On Wednesday, we noted that things had “gotten interesting” in this recruitment. We’ve heard nothing to change that stance as of today.
The NCAA’s current open period allows one visit per week by coaches to see prospects from November 25 until December 16. Head coaches are allowed just one trip, so the expectation would be that involved head coaches will wait until closer to the cutoff date to fire that bullet.
With Steele and Hill already having utilized their official visits to the relevant parties, much of the hay is already in the barn, leaving these last few in-person visits as the most significant opportunity for sway one way or the other.
We don’t yet know how things will play out with certainty, but we do know this: Both Hill and Steele can be put in the “legitimate possibility” category for the Gamecocks. Both are January enrollees, and Steele plans on signing during the early period before making his commitment public at the Army All-American Game.
Muschamp has hit the schools of a pair of USC commitments in the past couple days…
The head man and position coach Pat Washington visited with tight end commitment Keshawn Toney this week, and then went local alongside Travaris Robinson to meet cornerback pledge Cam Smith.
A long-time Gamecock target remains uncommitted, and should be one prospect who takes things all the way to the finish line…
Four-star safety Jammie Robinson out of Georgia confirmed to GamecockCentral.com on Thursday night what’s been expected during his process, that being that he will wait until February to sign with his program of choice.
Kentucky conducted a home visit with the Lee County (Georgia) standout on Wednesday, following by a visit from a Tennessee staffer on Thursday. That staffer was Shelton Felton, who was Robinson’s high school coach at Crisp County in Georgia during Robinson’s freshman and sophomore seasons. A former Chattanooga assistant coach, Felton took an off-field role as an analyst under Jeremy Pruitt this year.
Felton is on the road for the Vols due to a staff departure; former offensive coordinator Tyson Helton took the head coaching job at Western Kentucky, and NCAA rules allow programs to temporarily fill a coaching slot for recruiting purposes.
Robinson tweeted out a photo of him and Felton, only to later delete it. We’re not sure as to why. What is difficult to understand is how Tennessee would be able to sign Robinson, even if he desired to do so, due to Felton’s role on the staff. Recently passed NCAA legislation designates that a program may not sign a certain prospect if individuals associated with a prospect (which, Felton would fit the description due to his past relationship with Robinson) are hired to off-field roles for a period of two years before and for two years after a prospect’s anticipated signing date. As we’ve said, the only way it appears around this is to put Felton on the field as a coach, and Tennessee does not have an opening on its defensive staff right now.
Sources around the South Carolina program have remained optimistic as of late as to the chances of landing Robinson.
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