'13 SC WR Mike Williams

[BIG BOI 23]

Not a good year for South Carolina instate recruiting. Lost out on the top 3 guys with Williams to Clem, Trammel Terry to UGA, and Michael Hill to OSU. Luckily it's a weak, weak class this year (SC only pursued 7 guys) but still... All 3 guys were favoring SC at one point and with Williams it was for most of the time until last week.

Long way to go until NSD though...

who cares u got lattimore and clowney keep winning those battles and you'll be good

 

[palmer103]

That's been the common theme with guys committing to Clemson...happens out of the blue when it appeared that a different school was leading for the said recruit. HEY, MUST BE THE $$$$$!!!

Just because a fanbase decides to pronounce themselves the leader, it isn't necessarily the reality of the situation. He left a USCe camp about 2 months ago and said they had a slight edge. The next weekend he went to a Clemson camp, and left saying they had a slight edge. Came back on July 20th and reaffirmed that Clemson had a slight edge still. This isn't shocking and certainly not out of the blue to anyone paying attention.

In his own words:

"I actually knew about 5 weeks ago that I was going to pick Clemson. Right after camp, I felt like I knew. But I wanted to go back to each place one more time to sum it up."

"It wasn't close," Williams said. "I never really considered Alabama or South Carolina. I heard a lot of people saying I grew up liking Alshon Jeffrey, so I was going to go to South Carolina, but I'm going to Clemson. And I'm not going to change my mind.

 

[palmer103]

Not a good year for South Carolina instate recruiting. Lost out on the top 3 guys with Williams to Clem, Trammel Terry to UGA, and Michael Hill to OSU. Luckily it's a weak, weak class this year (SC only pursued 7 guys) but still... All 3 guys were favoring SC at one point and with Williams it was for most of the time until last week.

Long way to go until NSD though...

I agree, this year is by far one of the weakest for SC recruiting. Should be better next year though.

I also wouldn't give up on Michael Hill if I were SC. Wouldn't shock me to see him switch.

 

[Ron Swanson]

Palmer, does this hurt your chances with North?

 

[SCar]

I don't buy Mike's quotes completely, though he's been a guy that seems to tell each school (and fans and recruiting sites) what they want to hear after each visit.

 

[palmer103]

Palmer, does this hurt your chances with North?

It's tough to come at it from a recruit's perspective, but I don't think so. He's been #1 on our board all along, and he knows that. He is one of the very few oversign guys that we have left on the board, and we are prepared to go the distance with him.

With that, UNC is putting the full court press on this kid. I mean really hammering him hard. Fedora is trying to lock down the state from outside schools, and in particular Clemson. He's selling a fun-and-gun type offense that would be centered around North, and I think they are a real player for him at this point.

 

[palmer103]

I don't buy Mike's quotes completely, though he's been a guy that seems to tell each school (and fans and recruiting sites) what they want to hear after each visit.

With all due respect (and I acknowledge that he does tend to say what you want to hear), those are his exact quotes. I don't think he is trying to sell anyone anything, at this point.

 

[SCar]

With all due respect (and I acknowledge that he does tend to say what you want to hear), those are his exact quotes. I don't think he is trying to sell anyone anything, at this point.

Yea but I don't see how he was "never really considering" South Carolina when his coach, the SC coaching staff and people who know the guy thought or were told that he was definitely favoring SC for a while (most of the process even). I guess maybe he just has a different understanding of 'considering'.

 

[palmer103]

Yea but I don't see how he was "never really considering" South Carolina when his coach, the SC coaching staff and people who know the guy thought or were told that he was definitely favoring SC for a while (most of the process even). I guess maybe he just has a different understanding of 'considering'.

I found that quote to be odd as well. I think it is tough to say how long/much SC actually led for him though. With the way he operates, he could have just been telling everyone what they wanted to hear.

Either way, don't see this one opening back up. He seems to be over the whole recruiting process, and statements like the above (valid or invalid), make me think this things over.

Thing is SC could have used him a lot more than Clemson, to be honest. They need to get some heighth back in that receiving corp.

 

[carolinacoast]

Williams was telling some people he was all Gamecock. He either changed his mind, or was playing games the whole time. However, Clemson has a habit of pulling one out from left field. They almost turned Clowney, a player who had previously said he hated Clemson, according to people who knew him. Remember, Clemson was pulling five stars out of Florida even with mediocre seasons.

 

[palmer103]

Williams was telling some people he was all Gamecock. He either changed his mind, or was playing games the whole time. However, Clemson has a habit of pulling one out from left field. They almost turned Clowney, a player who had previously said he hated Clemson, according to people who knew him. Remember, Clemson was pulling five stars out of Florida even with mediocre seasons.

I don't understand your point? We hired one of the best salesman (which is all recruiting is) in the country to be our football coach. I don't see how this isn't to be expected?

With that, you take the good with the bad. Dabo is not the best X's and O's guy out there, never will be. What would be surprising is if he couldn't recruit worth a damn, and then coached up his team to wins.

 

[Phat-Phil]

Yea but I don't see how he was "never really considering" South Carolina when his coach, the SC coaching staff and people who know the guy thought or were told that he was definitely favoring SC for a while (most of the process even). I guess maybe he just has a different understanding of 'considering'.

Why would he say any of that if it wasn't true? Unless he is trying to score brownie points with the fans or something. To me, it sounds like u had it right when you said he was telling SC what they wanted to hear.

I have a couple questions for u tho. Who is you guys best returning receiver and how good is he (if u know at this point)? I can't remember who you guys had outside of AJ right now. And how big of a need is WR for y'all in this class?

 

[SCar]

Why would he say any of that if it wasn't true? Unless he is trying to score brownie points with the fans or something. To me, it sounds like u had it right when you said he was telling SC what they wanted to hear.

I have a couple questions for u tho. Who is you guys best returning receiver and how good is he (if u know at this point)? I can't remember who you guys had outside of AJ right now. And how big of a need is WR for y'all in this class?

Ace Sanders (Jr). 5-8 or 5-9 small slot guy is the best returning WR. He's a good player, 2nd on the team in receptions last season, and staff/other players have been raving about him this spring and summer. He'll lead the team in receptions barring injury.

Really outside of Ace there are a lot of question marks. A bunch of talented guys but no one with great experience or a lot of catches. One of the main 'storylines' around SC going into fall practice and the season is which WRs will separate themselves and take the starting spots outside.

As far as the 2013 class there's not really a huge need. SC has taken 3 WRs each of the past 2 recruiting classes including 3 highly rated guys this past year. The staff still wants to take 1, maybe 2 this class.