Sampson is ready to hit the road this month to check out his five favorites
SPORTSTALK / March 3, 2022
DT Keith Sampson Jr. of New Bern, NC has scheduled his visits for March and will get a chance to see each of his five favorites again. He will start with Florida State this weekend followed by Clemson the next weekend. He will visit USC March 19th. He will conclude his visits by going to NC State March 25th and North Carolina the next day.Sampson said he likely won’t take any April visits to spring games because of family obligations and spring breaks. So, he wants to use the month of March to learn more about the schools and the coaches he has focused on.
“For Florida State, that’s going to be my first time going, so I want to meet everybody that I haven’t met and just see how the place is,” Sampson said. “For the other schools, if they have new coaches, how I like them and how they make a difference in the program than what the other coaches were doing. And then, just same old same old, just seeing how the people are.”
One of those news coaches to check out is Clemson’s Nick Eason. He came on board as the defensive tackles coach in January and along with Lemanski Hall has picked up on the Tigers’ recruiting efforts with Sampson.
“Been talking to Coach Eason a lot, and still talking to Coach Hall a lot,” Sampson said. “We really don’t talk that much about football. We talk more about music. We talk about the type of songs that we both grew up on. It’s really cool we have interest in the same thing. It’s a spinoff of gospel. My family grew up in the church, and I play drums. Of course, we do talk about football, but the main part is all about life.”
USC has an ace in the hole with Sampson with running backs coach Montario Hardesty, who is a hometown hero for the kids growing up in New Bern. But defensive line coach Jimmy Lindsey is handling the recruiting and they talked on the phone Wednesday night.
“It’s still the same, just building our bond even stronger,” Sampson said. “It’s been really cool to see how they are still here because I’ve had South Carolina on my list for a while now. It’s still cool to make a relationship. We’re starting to talk more about official visits and catching up.”
Sampson said he will take some official visits this summer and some in the fall. He has not scheduled any at this point. And he plans to stay with these five schools until the end and ultimately choose from them.
Other Notes:
- USC make top 9 with OL Antonio Tripp of Baltimore. The others are Virginia Tech, Maryland, West Virginia, Louisville, Michigan State, Michigan, Miami and Penn State.
- USC target DT Jamal Meriweather was offered by Minnesota.
- USC target DE Jaybron Harvey was offered by East Carolina.
- 2024 DT Jerod Smith of Windsor, CT plans to visit USC March 19th. He also plans to visit Alabama, Ohio State, North Carolina and Wake Forest this month.
- USC target TE Reid Mikeska was offered by Miami.
- USC offered center Connor Lew (6-4 280) of Acworth, GA.
- USC offered 2024 WR Jaylen Mbakwe (6-1 168) of Pinson, AL.
- USC target WR Malik Benson was offered by Alabama, Florida Mississippi State and Florida State.
- USC target OT Wilkin Formby was offered by Florida. He also visited Alabama Tuesday.