Woodland OT Kam Pringle wants to be the nation’s top prospect
SPORTSTALK / March 30, 20222024 OT Kam Pringle of Woodland (6-7 315) continues to pile up the offers. Yesterday alone he was hit up by Penn State, Texas A&M and NC State. Some of his other recent offers include Michigan State, Ohio State, Michigan and Coastal Carolina. Some of his other offers include USC, Florida, Duke, Arizona State, Florida State, Georgia, LSU and Virginia Tech. Pringle will visit Alabama this Saturday and likely will land an offer from Nick Saban.
Pringle is being touted as the top player in the state for 2024 and one of the top players in the country. Those are labels he’s seeking.“I’m not going to lie, I feel as though I’ve earned it, I’ve worked for it,” Pringle said. “Since I was in the fourth-fifth grade, I always said I was going to be the number one player in my town, number one player in the region, number one player in the lower state, number one player in the state. Now, I’m trying to be the number one player in the country. I knew I was going to be the number one player in the state just by how much work I put in and how much I invested into my game play and the way I do things. Right now, I’m ranked as the number two offensive tackle in the country. I’m not going to be satisfied until I’m the number one player overall or the number one offensive tackle.”
USC and Clemson are of course major suitors, but at a different level right now. Gamecocks head coach Shane Beamer went right after Pringle with an offer, and along with offensive line coach Greg Adkins, continues to make him a priority.
“Coach Beamer is pretty straight forward,” Pringle said. “He’s a real good guy, nice man. When I talk to Coach Beamer, he gets straight to the point. We’re thirty minutes away from your house. If you came here, NIL will be booming, and you can make a lot of money. Huge fan base. The South Carolina fans love you already. And not only what he can do for me, but what I can do for them. He said I can turn around a program with my game play, and that can serve a huge purpose in my life with getting me to the highest level as soon as possible.”
Pringle was in to watch practice last week and had the chance to watch Adkins work his guys.
“Coach Adkins has a good way of doing things,” Pringle said. “Comparing him to other college offensive line coaches, if you at the way he does things, he’s definitely doing the right thing, he has the right idea and is following the right path. He just got there not too long ago, and you’ve got to give things time to fall in place. He can’t turn it around overnight. I feel like he has the opportunity and knowledge to change around the offensive line game play at South Carolina.”
Last week’s visit was one of several Pringle has made to USC, with more to come.
“Every time I step on South Carolina’s campus, I enjoy the visit more and more,” Pringle said. “Every time I go up there I do less and less because they can only show you but so much. The first visit, I’m in Coach Beamer’s office and at a basketball game, to now where I just went up and watched practice and walked around the coaches’ offices. Every time I go up there, I begin to enjoy it a little more and more.”
Clemson has not yet offered Pringle, though an offer from Dabo Swinney and offensive line coach Thomas Austin is in his future. Pringle was at Clemson earlier this month for a practice and further conversations with the coaches.
“Clemson, they are a highly considered school in my recruitment,” he said. “They are one of the few schools who are interested but haven’t offered. I know they have the policy. I’m not going to jump on the boat and sail until they offer, until things are committable, until they do their side of the things. I went up there for my third time, so I think I’ve seen everything, all the things I ought to see. Now, it’s really just building relationships and seeing how the program flows and how it works, how they do things. Talking to coaches, going to coaches meetings, more of the business side of things.”
This is Austin’s first season as Clemson’s offensive line coach though he had been working as an offensive analyst and assisting former line coach Robbie Caldwell. Thus, Pringle is no stranger to Austin.
“I really appreciate Coach Austin as an offensive line coach,” Pringle said. “I feel he’s really smart and know what he’s doing. He’s been doing it for a while. He’s studied the game a lot and he’s coaching the best of the best. I feel like he can put his best foot forward to get his guys where they need to be.”
Like Beamer on behalf of USC, Pringle said Swinney also is straight forward when making his pitch for him to come to Clemson.
“They bring up family, and they’re close, closer than most schools,” Pringle said. “They are winning games, so they brought up their stats and accolades. Me as a player, they feel like I can fit in and change things, make an impact.”
Pringle grew up in St. Stephen in the southern part of the state along I-95. And like most small South Carolina towns, the citizens line up either as Gamecocks or Tigers, and that includes his family members.
“House divided,” Pringle said. “Mom’s Carolina, Dad’s Clemson. I got one brother for Clemson and one brother for Carolina. St. Georgia is a South Carolina hole, I’m not going to lie. I can’t go anywhere without hearing “Spurs Up. A lot of my coaches are from the Upstate. My offensive line coach is a huge Clemson fan. There are some Clemson fans in St. George, but most of them are South Carolina. Coach Beamer came to talk to my coaches and flew in in a helicopter, and St. George was going crazy about it.”
Pringle also has visited North Carolina, Georgia and Ohio State. He is looking to make his decision at the end of his junior school year in the spring of 2023.