Keying In On A Recruiting Hotspot For South Carolina: Southside Atlanta
In order for Will Muscahmp and his staff to take that leap in recruiting, they have to win over the state of Georiga.
Now, time to look at a specific area of the Atlanta area that South Carolina could go after several top prospects. Keep in mind, this is meant to be a general overview. Due to COVID-19, it’s really hard to say exactly where any particular program stands with recruiting. It’s uncharted territory. Thus, let’s stick with what makes logical sense. South Carolina will hit the areas its coaching staff knows best.
HIT SOUTHSIDE ATLANTA HARD
There’s no secret about the city of Atlanta is one of the nation’s most prolific high school football talent pools. The city as well as the surrounding areas are loaded with top-tier football prospects. For today the focus will be on the Southside Atlanta.
It cannot be stated enough that Southside Atlanta is loaded almost every year and that’s where three premier programs are located. It’s a microcosm of Georgia talent and represents the bigger picture of what South Carolina needs to do.
The Gamecocks already hit this area during the Coach Muschamp era. From the class of 2020 alone, the Gamecocks signed wide receiver Rico Powers, Jr. from Hapeville Charter, cornerback Joey Hunter and running back Rashad Amos, both out of Sandy Creek.
I recently ventured to Atlanta and watched several top-notch prospects representing Creekside High, Langston Hughes High, and Hapeville Charter go through their own personal drills. From these three programs alone, there were conservatively 10 bonafide Division I players competing, and not all of the prospects came to workout. Here’s some video of prospects from each of those schools getting in work, along with brief player introductions from some of the Creekside players.
TALENT ASSESSMENT
In communicating with Langston Hughes head coach Daniel “Boone” Williams, he had the following to say about his prospects.
“Each of those guys are great kids. Antonio Martin has a 3.7 GPA. He is a bonafide leader. He is an excellent person on and off the field. Terrance Love has a 4.0 GPA and has so much upside it’s scary. He’s 6’3 200 right now at 15 years old. Kintavious (Williams) is going to help us on both sides of the ball. He is a real sleeper in the 2022 class. Rodney Shelley is going to have an outstanding year. He is going to help us and start on both sides of the ball as well.”
It’s a constant battle to find linemen with the size and strength to compete at the SEC level. One of the prospects that can do that would be Kintavious Williams, the big OL/DL prospect that’s currently 6-5, 370-pounds.
While he needs to redefine his body, this young man is a really good student and he is open to playing offense or defense in college. Coach Williams, like myself, believes that this young man could emerge in the coming months.
“I think Kintavious is going to blow up this season. He is a big boy,” Boone Williams said.
Williams is a class of 2022 prospect, so he will be provided with plenty of time to develop. After watching him first-hand, there was no question that his upside would be immense. It’s only a matter of which side of the football he will play. Williams played last season for Carver High before transferring to Langston Hughes for the spring semester.
Remember the notion of South Carolina signing a top running back to go along with Lloyd? Well, one of the players that Coach Williams mentioned would be his rising junior Antonio Martin, and he is a really good running back prospect.
A physical running back at 5-11, 205-pounds, he’s already earned offers from Alabama, Tennessee, Duke, Florida, Florida State, Miami, Georgia Tech, and yes, South Carolina.
There’s also a Langston Hughes player that possesses incredible upside, and that’s the young prospect that Williams referenced above. Only 15-years old, Terrance Love already hit 6-3, 200-pounds, and he’s a 4.0 student. The versatile safety will likely grow into a linebacker, and he can really cover ground.
That’s only some of the players from Langston Hughes, and I did not even go into detail about all the talent from Hapeville Charter, Creekside, or Sandy Creek programs. It’s a smorgasbord of football talent.
All of the programs and players mentioned above represent a small area, but a very important one for South Carolina football recruiting. If the Gamecocks can continually mine Southside Atlanta, year in and year out, it will go a long way to helping the Gamecocks take that next step and competing for SEC East titles.
I will be dropping more video on the GameCock Digest message boards this weekend, so keep an eye out. Additionally, there will be more South Carolina recruiting coverage of Georgia prospects moving forward, starting with top Gwinnett County prospects.
You can find me on Twitter @fbscout_florida