re: 2014 South Carolina Recruiting Thread

Got Prince (5* OL) and Sawyer (4* DE) visiting this weekend. Bad timing with vacation weekend. Hopefully our coaches take one for the team and stay in town and roll out the read carpet.

Any of you guys have any news or updates on how things are looking with WR Braxton Berrios 4* out of Raleigh NC?

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July 02, 2013
Harris Jr. pointing towards USC commitment
By Phil Kornblut

DB Al Harris Jr. of Fort Lauderdale said Tuesday night he plans to make his commitment within the next two weeks. USC has been his leader and remains so. "Nothing has changed so far," said Harris who talked Tuesday night with Gamecock recruiter Grady Brown. "We talked about my visits and my training. I really like their school, like what they have to offer football wise and academically. And I'm real comfortable with the coaches." Harris said he'd like to take some visits between July 12th and 24th and is looking at USC, Louisville, Florida State, NC State and Arkansas for those stops. He feels like USC is showing the strongest interest in him and when decision time comes, he'll sit down with his father and discuss the pros and cons of each school. His father is a former NFL corner and currently coaches with Kansas City. Harris will be going to Kansas City next week to train and plans to remain there until his pre-season practice.

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Goupstate Link

Looks like it's only a matter of time for Harris to become our 3rd and final DB commit for this class....reports were that it was down to him and D.J. Smith, who is higher rated, and whoever made the jump first got the final slot. Smith has reportedly wanted to wait until NSD to make his choice....

Is there a chance that we would still take Smith instead of a third WR or fourth DL? With 10 now, and a projected class of 15-17, if you add Scott, Stanley, two out of Ford, Lamin and Wideman (who we could sign and place?), Googer or Berrios and a possibility of Sawyer or another end... that would put us at 16.

If we sign and place Wideman it would be better in the long run as we could bring in Lamin and Ford as well without going over our limit. Getting Newell away from the Huskers is kind of a pipe dream, but I would prefer the other three to him anyway.

I like Googer's size, but something about Berrios makes him a little more enticing. I know we are pretty stocked up on undersized receivers, but he seems to be a playmaker all the same. All three would cover every option, but that might be reaching with our limited numbers.

Baldwin does look interesting, if raw, but I think he would get a preferred walk on or grey shirt rather than a scholarship. White made a big splash in Oregon, but I don't think we'll land him with the depth we have already. It's not a position of need for this cycle.

I agree on taking a pass on QB's this cycle. We'll have a 5th year sr next year who's already beaten ranked teams, a Parade All American RS Soph, and a highly rated RS Fr QB, who owns a bunch of the NC HS passing records.

Next year and absolutely by then end of 2016, we need to have locked up at least one more badass though.

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What to you makes Berrios more desirable? No flame, just interested to know.

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He seems to have a great mix of speed, athleticism, agility and ball skills. I look at it like this in the end though... if Berrios were the 6'4, 200 pound receiver he would not be a three star, he would be pushing five stars. If Googer, however, were eight inches shorter he would not be a three star either... he would go the other way.

Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike Googer. I just think he is more of a project of the two.

From what I've read I feel pretty confident that this is how it will work out.

We get:
Stanley
Scott
Lamin
Wideman (sign and place)
Googer

Arrington Farrar is a badass and '15 teammate with Googer, they are announcing the same date, but I think Farrar is heading to Stanford.

Besides Googer, none of those guys are announcing until later in the year.

We may take 1 or 2 more recruits, but it would have to be one of the 5 star guys we are looking at, and those are longer shots in the first place. I heard DT Newell is planning to make the trip from KS for Black Magic, but he's been to almost every Husker event and the several games, so I don't think we have a great shot with him. That DT Poona guy seems to be an up and down recruiting roller coaster, so I have no idea where he'll end up. If we have Lamin and Wideman committed, I don't think we'll be pursuing him hard. DE Sawyer is another possibility, but I don't know much about him.

I really hope we pick up Scott, Lamin, Googer and Stanley.

I wish we had more DEs on the board. We could be hurting there for the first time in a long time the next couple years.