Kimrey shares insight on Burch's "refreshing" recruiting process
Dec. 19, 2019, | sportstalk
Hammond School DE Jordan Burch ended the most mysterious recruiting saga of the 2020 class Wednesday afternoon when he announced a commitment to USC. Actually, the mystery continues somewhat because as of late Wednesday night, Burch had not signed and forwarded his LOI to USC, and no one around him has said when he will do that. However, USC coach Will Muschamp, without naming anyone, said he’s not concerned about any of his non-signed committed players not following thru and signing when they are supposed to.
Burch gives the Gamecocks six unsigned commitments. The other five planned to wait until February, so it was no surprise they didn’t sign Wednesday. Burch has until Friday to sign of he’ll have to wait until February as well.
Burch and his mother navigated the long recruiting process in a vacuum. Not one word about Burch’s recruitment ever made it to the public except for his handful of social media posts identifying his final five and the three official visits he took. Burch did not do any interviews, and the Hammond staff also was tight-lipped.
“I think it was refreshing,” Hammond coach Erik Kimrey said. “Rather than posting things on social media and trying to get as much attention as possible, Jordan was focused on being a student-athlete and getting himself better on the field and in the classroom and try to stay away from all those distracts. To me, I admire the way they handled it. Privacy was a big value of theirs and it was my job to try to respect that as much as possible.”
There was still the matter of dealing with the recruiters and their never ending sales pitches. In home visits, text messages, phone calls, none of which seemed to both Burch according to his coach.
“I think he handled it all really, really well,” he said. “He’s a class act kid. He tried to handle it as good as anybody could. I’m sure he felt the outside noise at time but we did our best to cut that off and say, hey man, just be yourself, just be a normal human being. It was a tough decision. Five great schools coming after you, and a lot of them that offer a lot. From day one, I said Jordan, wherever you go to school, you’re going to be fine. Those guys can develop you and you’re going to play top notch football. I would imagine it was really difficult for him.”
And after weighing all the options afforded him by USC, Clemson, LSU, Georgia and Alabama, Burch decided the grass he was standing on in Columbia was green enough for him.
“Special day for him, special day for South Carolina,” Kimrey said. “I think again, relationships. He talked about how much he respects coach Muschamp. I do think proximity helps, he’s very close with his family. He feels like he wants to go into a program and build something.”
Burch is the 5th and #8 ranked recruit in the country by 247 Sports and Rivals, respectively. His addition ensured a top 20 class for the Gamecocks with a #17 ranking by 247 and a #19 ranking by Rivals.
Dec. 19, 2019, | sportstalk
Hammond School DE Jordan Burch ended the most mysterious recruiting saga of the 2020 class Wednesday afternoon when he announced a commitment to USC. Actually, the mystery continues somewhat because as of late Wednesday night, Burch had not signed and forwarded his LOI to USC, and no one around him has said when he will do that. However, USC coach Will Muschamp, without naming anyone, said he’s not concerned about any of his non-signed committed players not following thru and signing when they are supposed to.
Burch gives the Gamecocks six unsigned commitments. The other five planned to wait until February, so it was no surprise they didn’t sign Wednesday. Burch has until Friday to sign of he’ll have to wait until February as well.
Burch and his mother navigated the long recruiting process in a vacuum. Not one word about Burch’s recruitment ever made it to the public except for his handful of social media posts identifying his final five and the three official visits he took. Burch did not do any interviews, and the Hammond staff also was tight-lipped.
“I think it was refreshing,” Hammond coach Erik Kimrey said. “Rather than posting things on social media and trying to get as much attention as possible, Jordan was focused on being a student-athlete and getting himself better on the field and in the classroom and try to stay away from all those distracts. To me, I admire the way they handled it. Privacy was a big value of theirs and it was my job to try to respect that as much as possible.”
There was still the matter of dealing with the recruiters and their never ending sales pitches. In home visits, text messages, phone calls, none of which seemed to both Burch according to his coach.
“I think he handled it all really, really well,” he said. “He’s a class act kid. He tried to handle it as good as anybody could. I’m sure he felt the outside noise at time but we did our best to cut that off and say, hey man, just be yourself, just be a normal human being. It was a tough decision. Five great schools coming after you, and a lot of them that offer a lot. From day one, I said Jordan, wherever you go to school, you’re going to be fine. Those guys can develop you and you’re going to play top notch football. I would imagine it was really difficult for him.”
And after weighing all the options afforded him by USC, Clemson, LSU, Georgia and Alabama, Burch decided the grass he was standing on in Columbia was green enough for him.
“Special day for him, special day for South Carolina,” Kimrey said. “I think again, relationships. He talked about how much he respects coach Muschamp. I do think proximity helps, he’s very close with his family. He feels like he wants to go into a program and build something.”
Burch is the 5th and #8 ranked recruit in the country by 247 Sports and Rivals, respectively. His addition ensured a top 20 class for the Gamecocks with a #17 ranking by 247 and a #19 ranking by Rivals.