USC on basketball recruiting trail

South Carolina’s new basketball coaching staff hit the recruiting trail last week and picked up on a couple of prospects who were recruited by the previous staff.

Thaddeus Hall, a 6-5 high-scoring shooting guard from Brooklyn, N.Y., will take an official visit to USC this weekend.

Hall met with USC head coach Frank Martin on Thursday and set up the visit which will be the first official visit he’ll make.

“He’s a nice guy. I saw what kind of coach he is,” Hall said of Marin. “He’s an honest person. He told me everything I like to hear. Before he came, I googled him and everything I read about him, he told me.”

Hall averaged 35 points per game this season and led Jefferson High to the city championship game. Hall said he will also visit Maryland. He also has offers from Virginia Tech, St. John’s, Dayton and West Virginia.

In other recruiting news:
Martin and assistant Brad Underwood also met with 6-6 SF Sheldon Jeter of Beaver Falls, Pa., on Thursday. The two had already recruited Jeter for Kansas State. Jeter has taken official visits to USC and Kansas State. “The visit went real well,” Jeter’s father said. “We had a great, great visit. I like coach Martin’s intensity. If Sheldon picks South Carolina, he’ll do a good job with him because of his (Martin’s) work ethic. I’ve been a fan of his since Kansas State.” Jeter also has taken an official visit to Wisconsin and the Badgers are also still in the mix. He is waiting to hear back from Florida State regarding a date for a visit there. Penn State remains in the hunt and Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon came in for a visit with the family Saturday afternoon. Vanderbilt also has contacted him today.

6-9 PF Demetrius Henry of Oakland Park, Fla., could have signed with a major program this month but decided to enroll at prep school this August to improve his overall skills. And that’s a break for Martin. Kansas State was one of the schools Henry was strongly considering. Now that he is delaying his decision, and Martin is at USC, the Gamecocks become a factor. “South Carolina has been in touch with my coach and told him they will continue to recruit me,” Henry said. “I will have interest because of Frank Martin, he’s a great coach. Kansas State was one of my top five schools. I like his system of play.” Henry also has offers from Clemson, Florida State, Miami, Virginia Tech, South Florida, George Mason, UTEP and Murray State. He will take some visits over the summer and will decide sometime in the fall. Henry will attend Faith Baptist School in Bradenton, FL next school year. This past season he averaged 19 points and 13 rebounds per game.

The Gamecocks are also now involved with 6-8 Tevin Glass of Alpharetta, Ga. Glass helped to lead his team to a state championship. He has offers from Memphis, Auburn, Mississippi State, Jacksonville, Georgia State, Murray State, Nevada, Tennessee Tech and Georgia Southern.

Michigan transfer 6-9 PF Evan Smotrycz has Clemson on his list of possible new schools. He visited Providence over the weekend and is also considering Baylor, Maryland, Colorado and Xavier. Smotrycz averaged 8 points and 5 rebounds per game last season as a sophomore.

Football news
USC is strongly in the mix with one of the top quarterbacks in the country in Kevin Olsen (6-3, 196) of Wayne, N.J. Olsen and his father, who is also his coach, will visit the Gamecocks on Thursday. USC, North Carolina, Miami, Auburn, Wisconsin and Arkansas are the final six schools with Olsen who wants to make his decision before his senior season. He also plans to visit North Carolina this week. He also has visited Miami and Auburn and will also visit Wisconsin and possibly Arkansas. Last season, Olsen passed for 1,686 yards and 20 touchdowns.

DE Isaac Rochell of McDonough, Ga., has visited Georgia and Notre Dame recently and plans to attend Clemson’s spring game this week. His visit to South Bend has the Irish out front for his services. After Notre Dame, Rochell has several schools on his list in no order. They are Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Tennessee, Georgia and Georgia Tech. He plans to narrow it to five this summer.

LB Larenz Bryant of Charlotte made an unofficial visit to Clemson last Monday to watch the Tigers in spring practice. He has a top three of Clemson, Georgia and Florida in no order. He has no other visits planned right now, and the Clemson visit was his first of the spring. Bryant said he also has interest in USC.

LB Kight Dallas (6-2, 220) of Lithonia, Ga., committed to USC last week while visiting the campus with his mother and a friend. Dallas also has offers from Wake Forest, Auburn, North Carolina and N.C. State. He is the fourth commitment of the 2013 class for the Gamecocks.

Florida staged its spring game Saturday and the Gators came away with commitments from three prospects who also had offers from USC and/or Clemson. OL Joshua Outlaw of Atlanta and WR Ahmad Fullwood of Jacksonville, Fla., have offers from the Gamecocks and Tigers. And DB Tre Bell of Jersey City, N.J., has a USC offer. Outlaw was at Clemson Wednesday. He’s also visited USC. Fullwood was at Clemson game last season and camped last summer at USC. And Bell is scheduled to be at USC’s spring game this Saturday.

TE Josh McNeil of Durham, N.C., revealed a list of 15 final schools from an offer list of 30 Friday night, and Clemson is on the list. McNeil plans to visit Clemson next week during his spring break and he plans to get his list down to 10 by Friday. Joining Clemson among the final 15 schools are Ohio State, Florida, Miami, Georgia, N.C. State, Ole Miss, Tennessee, South Florida, Florida State, LSU, Oregon, Vanderbilt, East Carolina and Alabama. McNeil will visit Ohio State April 21.

DB Brendan Langley of Marietta, GA made an unofficial visit to USC last Thursday to watch the Gamecocks practice. Langley also visited Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama twice last week. Langley said he has a top five, in order, of Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, USC and Florida. “The visit definitely helped them (USC),” he said. “Before, the visit they weren’t in my top five.” Langley plans to make a summertime decision.

DB Ali Groves of Stone Mountain, GA also was at USC’s practice last Thursday. He was at Auburn last Monday. Groves has offers from USC, Vanderbilt, Florida, Missouri and Wake Forest. He played in only four games last season due to a neck fracture. He was cleared to return to football in December.

WR Corey Cooper of Raleigh came out of USC’s recent junior day with the Gamecocks’ #1 on his list, and that remains the case. Cooper also has visited Maryland, Duke, NC State, Wake Forest and North Carolina. “I really like South Carolina, it really stood out,” Cooper said. “My parents really like South Carolina, too. That’s my favorite right now, but we’ll see. I want to make my decision in early August, but it could be earlier.”

DE Lewis Neal of Wilson, NC attended USC’s junior day and said the Gamecocks have moved up on his list. He’s also been to Virginia Tech, NC State, North Carolina, Maryland and Alabama. He is going to Clemson’s spring game Saturday and is also going to Oho State and Tennessee. He does not have favorites right now and will decide on a top five after his visits.

Neal is close friends with DE Tyquan Lewis of Tarboro, NC and he said Lewis will visit USC this week during his spring break. Lewis has been to Clemson and North Carolina.

OL Taylor Chambers of Irmo was at USC for their junior day. He has an offer from Wake Forest and is drawing interest from USC, Clemson, North Carolina, NC State, Duke, Boston College, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Georgia and Tennessee. He listed USC, Wake Forest, UNC, Duke and NC State as his top five in no order. He will go to Clemson’s spring game Saturday.

DL Antonio McGhee of Bossier City, LA has offers from USC, Ole Miss, Louisiana Tech, Oregon State and Tulane. LSU, Texas A&M, Houston, New Mexico and Louisiana-Lafayette are some of the other schools showing interest. McGhee has visited LSUI, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State and wants to get to USC this summer.

RB Keyante Green (5-9 195) of McDonough, GA has offers from USC, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Purdue, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Florida State, TCU, UCLA, California, Michigan and Ohio State among others. He named USC, Vanderbilt, Purdue and FSU as his favorites. “If I were to name a top three, I would say Vanderbilt, Purdue and South Carolina,” Green added. Green might attend the Gamecocks spring game Saturday and is planning to visit Vandy this summer. As a junior, he totaled over 1000 yards on the ground with 28 touchdowns. He did not name a favorite.

QB Corey Todd of Naples, FL took in USC’s practice last Tuesday and would like to get an offer from the Gamecocks. “It’s the top school on my list. Coach Mangus said he’s offered two quarterbacks right now and he’s got like 12 of them. He plans to offer one more guy and then see where that goes.” Todd also plans to camp at USC this summer. He is going to Notre Dame for an upcoming junior day. He feels Wofford and Colgate are the closest to offering him.

DB Chucky Williams of Hialeah, FL is a little more open on things than he was last month. Williams visited USC and Clemson last month and stated a strong preference for the Gamecocks. But he said last week he doesn’t have a favorite right now. He has not visited anywhere since those two visits and has no visits planned. He plans to camp at USC and Clemson this summer and wants to make his decision this summer. He also has visited Miami and Florida International.

ATH TJ Taylor of Monmouth Junction, NJ is drawing interest from USC, Boston College, Central Florida and NC State. He plays receiver and safety. Last season Taylor had 17 catches for 508 yards and 7 touchdowns, and 54 tackles with 8 passes broken up. Taylor has an offer from Temple.

OL Lucas Crowley (6-3 275) of Ponte Vedra, FL has offers from USC and Missouri and is getting interest from Florida, Florida State, Alabama, South Florida, Georgia Tech and West Virginia among others. He attended USC’s junior day and is strong on the Gamecocks right now. He plans to visit Florida for the second time this spring this week and hopes to take trips to USF and Georgia Tech as well.