South Carolina commitment injury updates; junior college target sets official visit
Nov. 02, 2016
Commitment injury updates
Adding to Tuesday’s news about South Carolina wide receiver commitment OrTre Smith, who will miss the rest of his senior season with an ankle injury.
Smith said “I don’t know the exact injury, but I tore some ligaments,” he said.
The timing of the procedure means he’ll have more than two months of recovery and rehab by the time he attends his first class on Jan. 9.
Smith will probably be close to fully recovered, if not all the way healed once spring practice begins.
During his senior season at Wando High School in Mount Pleasant, S.C., Smith had 37 catches for 448 yards and 2 touchdowns. As a safety, he had 29 tackles and an interception.
Gamecocks linebacker commitment Eldridge Thompson, a junior college prospect from Memphis, Tenn., has been on the shelf since suffering a shoulder injury Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College’s first game in late September.
“I hurt it in the first half, but I finished the game out,” Thompson said. “I had 16 tackles, a forced fumble and a sack.
“I tore my labrum, messed up my rotator cuff and my AC joint.”
About two months removed from surgery, Thompson is still rehabbing.
“It’s not as difficult as I thought it was going to be, but it’s pretty tough,” he said. “But I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do.”
Muschamp and linebackers coach Coleman Hutzler are in contact every couple of days, to see how the rehab is coming along and make sure his spirits are still up. Defensive backs JaMarcus King and Steven Montac, both of whom went to Coffeyville before enrolling at South Carolina, stay in communication.
“They can’t wait for me to get down there, so I can experience it with them,” Thompson said.
Mississippi State was previously mentioned as a potential official visit destination. Florida State has also expressed interest. However, Thompson said contact with anyone outside of South Carolina his died down.
The Gamecocks, he said, will receive his only official visit.
Thompson is ranked No. 89 among all 2017 junior college prospects and is the third-best outside linebacker.
Three-star cornerback Keisean Nixon, who’s originally from Compton, Calif., is currently enrolled at Arizona Western College.
On Tuesday, just a few days after South Carolina offered, the 6-foot, 200-pound defensive back scheduled his official visit for the weekend of Nov. 19.
“I’m from the west coast, so I’ve never really been to the south like that,” Nixon said. “Me going to South Carolina, it’s going to be big for me. It’s a school I’m really looking at.”
Defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach Travaris Robinson, who’s been in touch since the summer, informed him of the offer.
“My boys, Steve Montac and JaMarcus King, they went JUCO, too,” Nixon said. “They’re boys. I talk to them a lot … I know a lot about T-Rob, but not really Muschamp.
“But that relationship is getting better.”
The Coffeyville products think Nixon would be an asset to their defensive backfield.
“We can really run the SEC with the DBs they have now. (They say) adding me in with them would be big,” Nixon said.
A week after his official visit to South Carolina, he’ll take an official visit to Missouri.
“They’ve recruited me a little longer than South Carolina,” Nixon said, “So that’s a big thing to me, loyalty.”
Iowa State and Colorado State have also hosted him for official visits. Oregon and Mississippi State are vying for the fifth and final official.
Nixon will announce his commitment on Dec. 17, his mother’s birthday.
The No. 52 overall ranked junior college prospect is listed as the fifth-best cornerback.