SpursUp Surveillance: Thursday night’s impact; Gamecocks coaches hit the ground running, more notes on OrTre Smith
Sept. 02, 2016
Winning that way means somethingTo say recruits will get fired up about South Carolina’s 13-10 win over Vanderbilt would be a bit hyperbolic.
But it does give Muschamp’s staff a chance to start their in-season recruiting efforts with some confidence. Plus, it’s got to be a heck of a lot easier to walk into a high school after a nationally televised win than it is a loss.
Sure, a 3-point win at Vanderbilt isn’t something you normally would get all that fired up about, but things haven’t been all that normal around Columbia for the last year or so.
It’s been written in this space that South Carolina’s success on the recruiting trail in 2018 and beyond will depend — in part — on what happens on game days this fall. Winning the opener is the first step in the right direction, even if it was ugly — grinders count just as much as the blowouts.
What will help get the attention of recruits is doing it the way they did. The Gamecocks won on the road, as underdogs, after trailing by 10 late in the game. Showing some heart means something, but showing it in a come-from-behind win means a little more to a recruit who wants to get a sense of what kind of culture is being built by the first-year head coach.
Were there a ton of early mistakes? Sure, plenty of them, but the Gamecocks didn’t fall completely on their faces. One might argue that’s just as important as winning.
This is a results business. In 2016, if South Carolina gets more results like this one, things will be just fine on the recruiting trail.
A few more notes on SmithWe’ll close the book — for now — on this week’s coverage of OrTre Smith with a few more thoughts from his mother, Tashia Green.
Several of her thoughts were shared in Thursday’s edition of #SpursUp Surveillance. Here are a few more thoughts:
On the end of the recruiting process …
“We’ve just been kind of taking it easy, listening to what the coaches have had to say and taking them at their word. It’s just been one of those things, we’re soaking in all of the information. Now, we’re in the place where we can just sit back and kind of just go over things … we write things down and just kind of compare what’s good for him and what’s not good for him. Do they have your major? How do you feel about the coach, your position coach? There’s a lot that plays a part in it.”
On which schools have impressed her …
“I just think, for me, it’s been OK. For all the schools, when we go there, we’re respected. We feel like we’re very important. At the beginning, it wasn’t that way. I always say that I won’t talk about the past, because we’re past that. But, here lately, everybody has been really contacting me with emails or text messages, with him as well … they all keep in touch. They’ve all done that really well with us, as far as treating him as a priority — some more than others, but like I said, everybody is different and everybody kind of recruits differently.”
Remember, Green played volleyball at Clemson, so there are two things to keep in mind there.
Friday’s heavy rain across the state of South Carolina moved several high school football games to either Thursday or Saturday.
One of the biggest games of the weekend, Dutch Fork at Fort Dorchester, was played on Thursday. Dutch Fork won, 35-23. Fort Dorchester QB Dakereon Joyner completed 15-of-33 passes for 179 yards with 59 yards rushing.
OrTre Smith and Wando beat Hanahan. Xavier Thomas and Wilson lost to Conway.
Bentley hits up GregoryWhen the clock struck midnight and Wednesday turned to Thursday, college coaches were permitted to text 2018 prospects.
Running backs coach Bobby Bentley didn’t take any time to hit up the best player from his old stomping grounds at Byrnes High School.
Gregory, a 3-star, is the No. 58-ranked wide receiver in the Class of 2018. He’s also ranked as the No. 9 overall prospect from the state of South Carolina.
Quarterbacks get some loveIn this space two days ago, SEC Country wrote about the top 2018 quarterback prospects on the Gamecocks board. Two of them tweeted out edits they received Thursday morning.
Joe Milton of Olympia High School in Orlando, Fla.
SECCOUNTRY
Sept. 02, 2016
Winning that way means somethingTo say recruits will get fired up about South Carolina’s 13-10 win over Vanderbilt would be a bit hyperbolic.
But it does give Muschamp’s staff a chance to start their in-season recruiting efforts with some confidence. Plus, it’s got to be a heck of a lot easier to walk into a high school after a nationally televised win than it is a loss.
Sure, a 3-point win at Vanderbilt isn’t something you normally would get all that fired up about, but things haven’t been all that normal around Columbia for the last year or so.
It’s been written in this space that South Carolina’s success on the recruiting trail in 2018 and beyond will depend — in part — on what happens on game days this fall. Winning the opener is the first step in the right direction, even if it was ugly — grinders count just as much as the blowouts.
What will help get the attention of recruits is doing it the way they did. The Gamecocks won on the road, as underdogs, after trailing by 10 late in the game. Showing some heart means something, but showing it in a come-from-behind win means a little more to a recruit who wants to get a sense of what kind of culture is being built by the first-year head coach.
Were there a ton of early mistakes? Sure, plenty of them, but the Gamecocks didn’t fall completely on their faces. One might argue that’s just as important as winning.
This is a results business. In 2016, if South Carolina gets more results like this one, things will be just fine on the recruiting trail.
A few more notes on SmithWe’ll close the book — for now — on this week’s coverage of OrTre Smith with a few more thoughts from his mother, Tashia Green.
Several of her thoughts were shared in Thursday’s edition of #SpursUp Surveillance. Here are a few more thoughts:
On the end of the recruiting process …
“We’ve just been kind of taking it easy, listening to what the coaches have had to say and taking them at their word. It’s just been one of those things, we’re soaking in all of the information. Now, we’re in the place where we can just sit back and kind of just go over things … we write things down and just kind of compare what’s good for him and what’s not good for him. Do they have your major? How do you feel about the coach, your position coach? There’s a lot that plays a part in it.”
On which schools have impressed her …
“I just think, for me, it’s been OK. For all the schools, when we go there, we’re respected. We feel like we’re very important. At the beginning, it wasn’t that way. I always say that I won’t talk about the past, because we’re past that. But, here lately, everybody has been really contacting me with emails or text messages, with him as well … they all keep in touch. They’ve all done that really well with us, as far as treating him as a priority — some more than others, but like I said, everybody is different and everybody kind of recruits differently.”
Remember, Green played volleyball at Clemson, so there are two things to keep in mind there.
- She’s been through the process. Even though we’re talking apples and oranges when comparing football recruiting in 2016 to volleyball recruiting in 1988, Green knows what to look for, what questions to ask and how to wade through some of the nonsense.
- There was an issue early on with the way Clemson recruited Smith. That’s been written about ad nauseam. Green didn’t specifically refer to Clemson in the second quote, but one might presume that she was alluding to them.
Friday’s heavy rain across the state of South Carolina moved several high school football games to either Thursday or Saturday.
One of the biggest games of the weekend, Dutch Fork at Fort Dorchester, was played on Thursday. Dutch Fork won, 35-23. Fort Dorchester QB Dakereon Joyner completed 15-of-33 passes for 179 yards with 59 yards rushing.
OrTre Smith and Wando beat Hanahan. Xavier Thomas and Wilson lost to Conway.
Bentley hits up GregoryWhen the clock struck midnight and Wednesday turned to Thursday, college coaches were permitted to text 2018 prospects.
Running backs coach Bobby Bentley didn’t take any time to hit up the best player from his old stomping grounds at Byrnes High School.
Gregory, a 3-star, is the No. 58-ranked wide receiver in the Class of 2018. He’s also ranked as the No. 9 overall prospect from the state of South Carolina.
Quarterbacks get some loveIn this space two days ago, SEC Country wrote about the top 2018 quarterback prospects on the Gamecocks board. Two of them tweeted out edits they received Thursday morning.
Joe Milton of Olympia High School in Orlando, Fla.
SECCOUNTRY
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