Oklahoma receiver likes the Gamecocks

Tyrequek Zimmerman, a 6-1, 180-pound wide receiver from Lawton, Okla., has said he likes the idea of playing college football near his grandparents, who live in Orangeburg. That's one of the reasons Zimmerman is favoring South Carolina right now.

"That's a big reason they're out front," Zimmerman said. "And they have a pretty good offense, a couple of good receivers and a good quarterback."

Zimmerman has offers from Oregon State, Baylor, Tulsa, East Carolina and Louisville.

He's also getting strong interest from Oklahoma State. He has the Gamecocks in front of Oregon State and Louisville. Zimmerman attended junior days at Tulsa and Oklahoma. He was in Orangeburg over spring break, but didn't make it to USC. He plans to visit the school this summer.

Last season, Zimmerman caught 54 passes for 945 yards and 11 touchdowns. Some schools like him as a safety -- he had 69 tackles with one interception last season.

"He runs a legit 4.4," said his coach Randy Breeze. "His first step, he's at max speed. And he squats over 500 pounds. We don't have an offensive lineman within 100 pounds of his squat. He's hard enough to cover, but once he catches it, he's hard to bring down."

Zimmerman said he'll make his decision after the season.

In other recruiting news, QB Christian Lemay (6-3, 195) of Matthews, N.C., says that Clemson is definitely in his top five.

"I visited Clemson, Georgia, and Auburn during spring break and those three schools are locked into my top five," said Lemay. "I don't have the list yet, but those schools are in it."

Lemay plans to name a top five, and a favorite, in the next couple of weeks. Lemay says his next visit will be to North Carolina. He also hopes to visit USC once again. He was there for junior day. His offers include USC, Clemson, Notre Dame, Arizona State, Florida, Georgia, Auburn, Florida State, Miami, Virginia Tech, Mississippi State and Oklahoma.

DE Jadeveon Clowney (6-6, 240) of South Pointe attended North Carolina's spring game and came away with the Tar Heels tops on his list right now ahead of USC and Alabama.

"It's not a big lead, they are just out front," Clowney said. "I just like them. Their defensive line coach, he's cool."

He said three of his official visits in the fall will be Alabama, LSU and North Carolina. Clowney said he will announce a decision at the Under Armour Game in January.

DE Clay Burton (6-4, 235) of Venice, Fla., says Clemson, Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, Mississippi and South Florida make up his top group right now. He's been to Clemson, Georgia Tech, South Florida and Florida, and if he goes anywhere else it will be to Notre Dame. All of his favorites have offered except Florida, and he thinks the Gators will. Burton has visited Clemson three times. Burton will be an early enrollee and is planning a decision before November.

DL Gerald Dixon Jr. (6-2, 270) of Northwestern has had no changes with his recruiting. He said USC is still his strong favorite. His visit to USC for junior day has been his only visit. And USC remains his only offer. He's also hearing from Duke, North Carolina, N.C. State and Alabama.

LB (6-4, 215) of Hillcrest has been offered by N.C. State and Maryland and is looking for one soon from Michigan State. Clemson, USC, Alabama and Georgia have shown interest. Rose has visited Clemson and USC and plans to take some out-of-state visits later in the spring. Last season, Rose had 116 tackles, 16 for loss, and 10 sacks.

QB Max Wittek (6-4, 217) of Santa Ana, Calif., has offers from USC and Clemson, but has not heard from either recently, but he is still interested in the two. In fact, he's still considering all of the offering schools. Some of the others are Southern Cal, Florida, Florida State, North Carolina, Duke, Illinois, Cal, UCLA, Oregon State, Nebraska, Notre Dame and Georgia. Wittek visited Cal, Notre Dame, Georgia and Florida during his spring break. He plans to decide before his season and location won't restrict him. Wittek said Southern Cal, Florida, Georgia, Cal, Notre Dame and North Carolina have been showing the most interest.

Blythewood RB Brandon Wilds 6-1, 220) visited Maryland over the weekend. He said the Terps like him for a "big back." He has offers from USC, East Carolina and Maryland. Wilds has visited USC and Georgia Tech and will visit East Carolina at some point.

TE Jerrell Adams (6-5, 220) of Scotts Branch has offers from USC, Clemson, Arkansas, and Illinois and is hearing from Florida, Maryland, and N.C. State.

"It's South Carolina, Clemson, Arkansas, N.C. State, and Maryland in that order," said Adams. "I'm going to take all of my (official) visits but I'm not committing until February," he said.

OL Trip Thurman (6-6, 311) of Dover, Del., who had offers from USC, Duke, Boston College, Vanderbilt, Connecticut, Rutgers, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and others, received an offer from Florida recently.

"That was pretty big," he said. "I visited Florida after I visited South Carolina. It's pretty cool."

Thurman recently visited Tennessee and was to visit Boston College this past weekend. Thurman says he still likes USC and wants to take another trip to Columbia. He's not claiming a favorite.

QB Tony McNeal (6-1, 175) of Chester has been committed to Clemson but is still hearing from other schools. Clemson is his lone offer but he's been hearing from Miami, Virginia Tech, LSU and Auburn. McNeal is recovering from ACL surgery back in January, so he has not taken any other visits. McNeal says he would like more offers but is very strong in his commitment to Clemson.

OL Bobby Hart (6-5, 295) of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has over 25 offers including USC, Alabama, Tennessee, LSU, Southern Cal, Florida State, North Carolina, and N.C. State. His most recent offers came from Memphis and Arizona State. Hart says he is still high on the Gamecocks and plans to visit this summer. His most recent visits have been to Alabama and Florida State for spring games.

OL Xavier Ward (6-7, 260) of Moultrie, Ga., had planned to visit Clemson last Friday, but will visit this Friday instead. Ward has offers from Clemson, USC, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Alabama, N.C. State, Purdue, and Louisville. He's not hearing much from USC at this point. Ward was at Georgia Tech and FSU for their spring games. He also has visited Georgia and Alabama in recent months. Ward did not indicate any favorites.

DL Jerome Maybank (6-4, 310) of Waccamaw has offers from Clemson, USC and North Carolina at this point. He's also getting interest from Alabama, Duke, N.C. State, Maryland, Florida, Florida State, Georgia and Georgia Tech. Maybank attended Clemson's junior day in January and right now is favoring the Tigers. But he's not ready to finalize a decision. He said he will camp this summer at Clemson, USC and North Carolina.

LB AJ Johnson (6-3, 230) of Gainesville, Ga., was among the recruits to attend Alabama's spring game. Johnson also has visited Clemson, Auburn, Georgia Tech, Florida and Tennessee. He also plans to visit Southern Cal, Miami and Penn State. Those nine schools make up the list of the ones he's most interested in at this point, and he said Clemson is on him the hardest. Johnson said he received an invitation to the Army All American Game and he'll wait until that game to announce his college choice.

OL Zach Debell (6-7, 265) of Tarpon Springs, Fla., attended South Florida's spring game. He has no future visits planned because he's concentrating on spring practice which begins in early May. He's seen his offer list grow to 15: USC, Clemson, Central Florida, Florida International, Iowa State, Minnesota, South Florida, Georgia Tech, Western Kentucky, Kentucky, Louisville, Ole Miss, Purdue, Memphis and UCLA.

Debell has not narrowed his list, he'll do so after spring practice. He did say USC and Clemson will be in his top five. He visited both during his spring break.

OL Alan Posey (6-7, 310) of Athens, Ga., made a return trip to Tennessee for the spring game and he took his mother with him for her first trip to Knoxville, Tenn. Posey said Tennessee and Clemson remain tied with him as he points toward a May 4 announcement with a news conference at his school. Posey said the coaches have told him they will come to his first spring practice on May 3 to watch him. Posey said one of the key factors in his decision will be the offensive line coach.

OL Giorgia Newberry (6-6, 255) of Fort Pierce, Fla., plans to set one of his official visits with Clemson for this fall. Newberry has visited Florida State, Florida and Central Florida this spring. His offers include Clemson, USC, Notre Dame, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, Stanford, Boston College, North Carolina, N.C. State, Wisconsin, Duke, South Florida and Rutgers. He said Florida and Florida State have been in touch with him the most.

Lexington sophomore receiver and free safety Shaq Roland (6-3, 185) now has 22 football offers according to his coach Scott Earley. Those offers include USC, Clemson, Florida, LSU, Virginia, Maryland, Georgia Tech, Tennessee, Florida State, North Carolina and Texas A&M. Roland is also basketball prospect and USC has offered him for that sport as well. Roland has visited USC and Clemson this spring and the in-state schools will get strong consideration from him. Roland is expected to make a decision before his senior football season.

USC recently offered OL Angelo Mangiro (6-4, 295) of Roxbury, N.J. He picked up recent offers from UCLA and Stanford. Some of his other offers are Rutgers, Maryland, Boston College, North Carolina, N.C. State, Ohio State, Pittsburgh and Virginia. Mangiro has visited Rutgers, Penn State, Ohio State and Pittsburgh. He's planning to visit Boston College and some of the Southern schools. He might check out USC this summer while in Myrtle Beach. Mangiro plans to come up with a top five after his summer visits and take his official visits. He wants to make a decision before his basketball season. He's not claiming favorites right now.

Basketball news

Clemson head coach, Brad Brownell, and two of his assistants visited for the first time last Monday night with former Tigers signee 6-7 Marcus Thornton at Thornton's Atlanta home. Thornton signed with the Tigers last November, but was granted his release after Oliver Purnell left for DePaul. Thornton, who was named Mr. Basketball in Georgia for this season, has received several more offers since reopening his recruiting and he plans to take more visits before making a decision. He's also considering Texas, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Alabama, Kentucky and Michigan. Thornton was on a spring break trip over the weekend and will decide on official visits this week.

6-5 Kenny Manigault announced last week he is leaving Wichita State after one season. The former Pinewood Prep standout said he was a bit homesick and wanted to get back to the East. Manigault said he's waiting until after this signing period to see what's available. He's even considering going to a junior college. Manigault was not offered by Clemson or USC out of high school, but he did draw interest from Brownell when he was at Wright State. And he was recruited by to Wichita State by Earl Grant who is now an assistant at Clemson.

6-3 Jeremy Glover, who was an invited walk-on at Wisconsin, is transferring to Presbyterian College according to Madison.com sports. Glover is a native of Haymarket, Va. He was dismissed from the Wisconsin team in September after pleading guilty to a string of dorm burglaries. He was placed in a first offenders program.