Brandon McIlwain meets with USC’s Mangus, Penn State
December 3, 2015 By Phil Kornblut Link: SportsTalk
USC quarterback commitment Brandon McIlwain of Newtown, PA was visited Wednesday by his recruiter from Penn State. He visited Happy Valley for a game late in the season. Monday, USC recruiter GA Mangus was in to see him. It was the first in person contact for McIlwain with his Gamecock recruiter since the summer.
“It was great,” McIlwain said. “He spent a couple of hours with me and my parents. It’s always good to talk to Coach Mangus and spending some time with him. He said they are not going to hold anything up (on a new coach) or delay so as soon as they figure out who the new head coach is going to be they’ll announce it and let me know and we’ll kind of go from there.”
McIlwain said he hasn’t been following the coaching search that closely and he doesn’t have choice for the head coaching job, but he does have one wish.
“To me, honestly, the biggest thing is just having Coach Mangus on the staff,” McIlwain said. “Whatever it really takes to have Coach Mangus on the staff is good for me.” And if he’s not retained? “Will just have to go from there. I still love South Carolina. I fell in love with the school. I fell in love with the atmosphere there and I have family down there. There are still a lot of things to me that are attractive about South Carolina. Again, Coach Mangus is one of them but it’s definitely not an end all, be all and we’ll have to see when we get to that.”
Along with Penn State, Cal is another school McIlwain said he’s heard from recently. He has not scheduled any official visits. He wants to take his USC visit after the coaching staff is solidified. And he said the decision on enrolling early or returning to high school for the spring semester won’t be made until the USC staff is whole. He also said he’ll decide if he’ll take other official visits besides USC after the head coach is hired.
Pro baseball also lurks in the background for McIlwain, an outfielder viewed as a top two round pick for this summer’s draft.
“It’s a great opportunity but the opportunity to play football and baseball at a top tier school like South Carolina is also an amazing opportunity,” he said. “It’s something that I have to look at because of just what it is and the opportunity that it presents but I’ve been committed to South Carolina for so long that the opportunity there is just as great, if not greater. It’s not completely about the (baseball) money. There are a lot of other things that go into that decision and eventually some type of money figure (for signing pro baseball).”
McIlwain is regarded as one of the nation’s top dual-threat quarterbacks. This season he passed for 1727 yards and 17 touchdowns and rushed for 1528 yards and 30 touchdowns.
December 3, 2015 By Phil Kornblut Link: SportsTalk
USC quarterback commitment Brandon McIlwain of Newtown, PA was visited Wednesday by his recruiter from Penn State. He visited Happy Valley for a game late in the season. Monday, USC recruiter GA Mangus was in to see him. It was the first in person contact for McIlwain with his Gamecock recruiter since the summer.
“It was great,” McIlwain said. “He spent a couple of hours with me and my parents. It’s always good to talk to Coach Mangus and spending some time with him. He said they are not going to hold anything up (on a new coach) or delay so as soon as they figure out who the new head coach is going to be they’ll announce it and let me know and we’ll kind of go from there.”
McIlwain said he hasn’t been following the coaching search that closely and he doesn’t have choice for the head coaching job, but he does have one wish.
“To me, honestly, the biggest thing is just having Coach Mangus on the staff,” McIlwain said. “Whatever it really takes to have Coach Mangus on the staff is good for me.” And if he’s not retained? “Will just have to go from there. I still love South Carolina. I fell in love with the school. I fell in love with the atmosphere there and I have family down there. There are still a lot of things to me that are attractive about South Carolina. Again, Coach Mangus is one of them but it’s definitely not an end all, be all and we’ll have to see when we get to that.”
Along with Penn State, Cal is another school McIlwain said he’s heard from recently. He has not scheduled any official visits. He wants to take his USC visit after the coaching staff is solidified. And he said the decision on enrolling early or returning to high school for the spring semester won’t be made until the USC staff is whole. He also said he’ll decide if he’ll take other official visits besides USC after the head coach is hired.
Pro baseball also lurks in the background for McIlwain, an outfielder viewed as a top two round pick for this summer’s draft.
“It’s a great opportunity but the opportunity to play football and baseball at a top tier school like South Carolina is also an amazing opportunity,” he said. “It’s something that I have to look at because of just what it is and the opportunity that it presents but I’ve been committed to South Carolina for so long that the opportunity there is just as great, if not greater. It’s not completely about the (baseball) money. There are a lot of other things that go into that decision and eventually some type of money figure (for signing pro baseball).”
McIlwain is regarded as one of the nation’s top dual-threat quarterbacks. This season he passed for 1727 yards and 17 touchdowns and rushed for 1528 yards and 30 touchdowns.
