Dax Hollifield, K.J. Henry, Israel Mukuamu
September 29, 2017
More on Dax Hollifield
The 4-star linebacker from Shelby (N.C.) High School is certain of one thing as it relates to his recruiting:
“I want to get Shelby involved,” Hollifield said. “I love my city and my high school.”
At this point, don’t expect to see a video. And it’s also unlikely that he’ll do it at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.
Where Hollifield ends up is still up in the air, but South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Florida State and Stanford are all still in the mix.
“I’m going to make my decision on what place is best for me,” he said. “The coaches have something to do with it and the atmosphere, stuff like that, but I just want to go somewhere that’s the best place for me, and I’m going to try to make the biggest impact on the team and make it the best for my life and career.”
South Carolina recruiting
Henry’s mom, Nicole, seemed pretty genuine when she said the family likes all five of the finalists: “He’s got a hard decision.”
“I’m just thankful it’s not me,” Nicole said. “I’m just very thankful. Most of all, I’m thankful and very humbled. I don’t take this lightly that he’s even being [recruited] — I’m very thankful that everybody is considering and wanting him to come play. We don’t take that for granted.”
That’s real, especially when it’s from a woman whose husband is a college football coach. The family, as a whole, respects the time, effort and energy that college football coaches pour into recruiting.
With that in mind, Muschamp’s personal recruiting touch on the 5-star defensive end from West Forsyth (N.C.) High School isn’t lost upon them, but we’ll have to see, ultimately, if that pays off for South Carolina.
In the meantime, K.J. is still in the midst of setting up his other three official visits. He already visited Georgia. Up next is Virginia Tech.
Alabama, Clemson and South Carolina will be scheduled in the not too distant future.
“I’m hoping to get them all during the season,” he said, “Just so I can get them in and get them out of the way. … If they come after this season, obviously my dad can definitely be a part of them, but I definitely want to get them through before the season is over.”
K.J. added, “We just haven’t set those in stone yet. Obviously, with my dad being a coach at UNC-Charlotte, we’re trying to involve him as much as possible, so we’re just trying to take it team by team.”
Additional thoughts on coaches
Nicole said plenty of nice things about Muschamp, which we shared in this space Thursday.
Here’s what else she had to say about some of the other coaches angling for her son’s commitment:
Alabama: “The SEC, by far, is a huge contender, because of the magnitude. It’s almost night and day from the [other] programs. The stadiums, the following, so Alabama is a big choice, because they’re No. 1 [in the country] and coach [Nick] Saban is a legend and highly respected.”
Clemson: “It’s no secret, as a coaching family, we get to see a lot of the coaches behind the scenes at conventions, so we’ve been a longtime admirer of Dabo [swinney]. I kind of always joke, because when we were at Wake Forest, we played them and it went into triple-overtime, so that might be the only thing we hold against them. I’m still traumatized from that game alone.”
Georgia: “Coach [Kirby] Smart is a phenomenal up-and-coming coach and reminds me a lot of a young Jim Grobe, who we adore and respect a lot, and so it has a lot of upside to it, a lot of upside.”
South Carolina recruiting
Next weekend, South Carolina will host 3-star Florida State commitment Israel Mukuamu. Mukuamu, who’s originally from Berkeley, S.C., now lives in Bossier City, La.
South Carolina plays Arkansas at 4 p.m. ET.
“I’ll just be looking at the scheme that they play and how I would fit in their scheme, and also how they want to use me,” Mukuamu told Phil Kornblut. “I really want to hang out with the players as well, to see if I can potentially play with them. I know some guys on the roster already like Darius Douglas, who was my teammate last year, but that’s basically all.
“I already know it’s a great atmosphere there. I know the coaches pretty well and the people down there are great people.”
Mukuamu added, “This visit would mainly be big for my parents. They get to see who I could potentially be around and judge if it’s a good place for me or not, so that’s really the main part.”
September 29, 2017
More on Dax Hollifield
The 4-star linebacker from Shelby (N.C.) High School is certain of one thing as it relates to his recruiting:
“I want to get Shelby involved,” Hollifield said. “I love my city and my high school.”
At this point, don’t expect to see a video. And it’s also unlikely that he’ll do it at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.
Where Hollifield ends up is still up in the air, but South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Florida State and Stanford are all still in the mix.
“I’m going to make my decision on what place is best for me,” he said. “The coaches have something to do with it and the atmosphere, stuff like that, but I just want to go somewhere that’s the best place for me, and I’m going to try to make the biggest impact on the team and make it the best for my life and career.”
South Carolina recruiting
Henry’s mom, Nicole, seemed pretty genuine when she said the family likes all five of the finalists: “He’s got a hard decision.”
“I’m just thankful it’s not me,” Nicole said. “I’m just very thankful. Most of all, I’m thankful and very humbled. I don’t take this lightly that he’s even being [recruited] — I’m very thankful that everybody is considering and wanting him to come play. We don’t take that for granted.”
That’s real, especially when it’s from a woman whose husband is a college football coach. The family, as a whole, respects the time, effort and energy that college football coaches pour into recruiting.
With that in mind, Muschamp’s personal recruiting touch on the 5-star defensive end from West Forsyth (N.C.) High School isn’t lost upon them, but we’ll have to see, ultimately, if that pays off for South Carolina.
In the meantime, K.J. is still in the midst of setting up his other three official visits. He already visited Georgia. Up next is Virginia Tech.
Alabama, Clemson and South Carolina will be scheduled in the not too distant future.
“I’m hoping to get them all during the season,” he said, “Just so I can get them in and get them out of the way. … If they come after this season, obviously my dad can definitely be a part of them, but I definitely want to get them through before the season is over.”
K.J. added, “We just haven’t set those in stone yet. Obviously, with my dad being a coach at UNC-Charlotte, we’re trying to involve him as much as possible, so we’re just trying to take it team by team.”
Additional thoughts on coaches
Nicole said plenty of nice things about Muschamp, which we shared in this space Thursday.
Here’s what else she had to say about some of the other coaches angling for her son’s commitment:
Alabama: “The SEC, by far, is a huge contender, because of the magnitude. It’s almost night and day from the [other] programs. The stadiums, the following, so Alabama is a big choice, because they’re No. 1 [in the country] and coach [Nick] Saban is a legend and highly respected.”
Clemson: “It’s no secret, as a coaching family, we get to see a lot of the coaches behind the scenes at conventions, so we’ve been a longtime admirer of Dabo [swinney]. I kind of always joke, because when we were at Wake Forest, we played them and it went into triple-overtime, so that might be the only thing we hold against them. I’m still traumatized from that game alone.”
Georgia: “Coach [Kirby] Smart is a phenomenal up-and-coming coach and reminds me a lot of a young Jim Grobe, who we adore and respect a lot, and so it has a lot of upside to it, a lot of upside.”
South Carolina recruiting
Next weekend, South Carolina will host 3-star Florida State commitment Israel Mukuamu. Mukuamu, who’s originally from Berkeley, S.C., now lives in Bossier City, La.
South Carolina plays Arkansas at 4 p.m. ET.
“I’ll just be looking at the scheme that they play and how I would fit in their scheme, and also how they want to use me,” Mukuamu told Phil Kornblut. “I really want to hang out with the players as well, to see if I can potentially play with them. I know some guys on the roster already like Darius Douglas, who was my teammate last year, but that’s basically all.
“I already know it’s a great atmosphere there. I know the coaches pretty well and the people down there are great people.”
Mukuamu added, “This visit would mainly be big for my parents. They get to see who I could potentially be around and judge if it’s a good place for me or not, so that’s really the main part.”