Prior to attending Clemson’s recent junior day, offensive lineman John Simpson of Fort Dorchester had the Tigers and South Carolina high on his list with little difference between them. Now, there’s a big difference.
Johnson said he favors Clemson and no longer considers the Gamecocks among his top three schools. LSU and Georgia fill out the spots behind Clemson.
“Carolina is not out of the picture,” Simpson said. “I haven’t taken a visit there to look at the whole campus. Clemson is the only visit I’ve taken like that.”
Simpson said he will visit USC soon, but no date has been set. He won’t attend the Gamecocks’ next junior day March 28 because he’s going to Mississippi State and Alabama that weekend. He will visit Georgia this weekend.
As for the recent visit to Clemson, Simpson said he was blown away.
“I saw a lot of things I hadn’t seen before,” he said. “I really wasn’t expecting that. I guess that’s what’s made them my top school. I got a close view of the new dorms, what they are starting to build near the indoor facility. I saw all the stuff that’s going to happen.”
Highly recruited linebacker Tre Lamar of Roswell, Ga., visited Auburn recently. He has also been to Clemson and Alabama.
“Auburn’s facilities are definitely top notch and they compare with anybody’s in the nation, so that was definitely cool,” Lamar said.
Lamar has a trip to Florida this weekend. He said he’s still hearing from USC “a little bit.” He has not made plans to attend USC’s junior day later this month. Lamar said he now has a top five of Clemson, Tennessee, Auburn, Alabama and Florida, in no particular order. Auburn and Florida replace USC and Mississippi State in his previous top five. Lamar said he plans to return to Clemson for another visit sometime this spring.
In other recruiting news:
Offensive lineman Parker Boudreaux of Orlando, Fla., spent the weekend before last in South Carolina visiting Clemson and USC with his parents and two sisters. The emphasis of the trip was on Clemson for the junior day. On the way back to Orlando, Boudreaux stopped in Columbia for about two hours and met with USC offensive line coach Shawn Elliott, who gave him a tour of the facilities.
“It was pretty nice, I liked it,” Boudreaux said of his first glance at USC. “I like Coach Elliott. And they are building a new condo for the players and a new indoor (practice facility) and all that stuff.”
Boudreaux said USC is recruiting him hard, but right now is not high up on his list. Clemson, however, is.
He visited the Tigers during last season and loved it and got more of the same feeling on this visit. “It was awesome,” he said. “We saw everything. We saw all the new facilities and the campus, and all the coaches.”
Defensive back Simeon Gatling of Greensboro plans to attend USC’s junior day later this month with his cousin, running back CJ Freeman. Gatling doesn’t have an offer from the Gamecocks yet, but he’s hoping of landing one soon.
Offensive lineman Jack DeFoor of Calhoun, Ga., couldn’t make it to Clemson’s junior day earlier this month, but he did get back to see the Tigers during their spring practice session Wednesday. He had also visited Clemson for the junior day in late January. DeFoor picked up an offer from Miami last week, and already had offers from Clemson, Illinois, Nebraska, Missouri, Michigan, Vanderbilt, Louisville, Virginia Tech, Ole Miss and Cincinnati. DeFoor said he will visit USC this weekend and also plans to visit Mississippi and Georgia.
Wide receiver Austin Mack of Fort Wayne, Ind., plans to visit USC this spring. He was at Michigan over the weekend. He also has offers from Ohio State, Notre Dame and several others.
Clemson last week offered DE Julian Okwara of Charlotte, DB Stanford Samuels III of Hollywood, Fla., and DB Damar Hamlin of Pittsburgh.
WR Kelvin Harmon of Palmyra, N.J., plans to attend USC’s junior day later this month.
LB Datavious Wilson (6-2 230) of Hartsville attended Clemson’s recent junior day and the weekend before that he was at Wake Forest. Wilson said he had good conversations with Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables and liked what he saw while on campus. “The program is definitely going in the right direction, I feel like,” Wilson said. “I liked everything from the classroom to the field. It was real nice. They told me they are going to be in contact. We didn’t talk much about an offer, honestly. They want me to come to the spring game and to spring practices.” Wilson said he’s also getting mail from USC and he plans to attend a camp there this summer. He was not invited to USC’s junior day later this month. Wilson picked up an offer from Marshall last week to go along with his previous offer from Appalachian State. He’s also hearing from East Carolina, The Citadel and Georgia Southern. Last season, Wilson had 158 tackles with 16 tackles for loss and 3 sacks.
Basketball
USC basketball coach Frank Martin was in New Jersey last week for his first meeting with former Seton Hall point guard Jaren Sina. It likely won’t be the last time the two get together.
“It was great,” Sina said. “It was a chance to sit down with him and hear about his program and learn about the school and how I would fit there. I thought we had a great conversation.”
Sina mentioned Michigan, Boston College, Davidson and Rhode Island as some other schools of interest.
Nysier Brooks of Life Academy in Burlington, N.J., picked up an offer from USC. Brooks also has a reported offer from Fordham.
Kwe Parker of Wade, N.C., plans to visit Rutgers and Louisville this spring. Clemson is among his other offers along with Florida State, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech and Nebraska.
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