One USC receiver target, Derwin Burgess of Riverdale, GA, has set July 2nd for his commitment announcement with Georgia Tech, Indiana, Tennessee, Florida State and Coastal Carolina the other schools in contention. Another Gamecock receiver target, Keon Coleman of Opelousas, LA was going to take his official visits before deciding, but he’s now set July 4th for his commitment date. He is down to just three schools…USC, Kansas and Oklahoma. The Gamecocks have held their spot with Coleman despite the change at receivers coach from Bryan McClendon to Joe Cox.
“It started out with Coach McClendon, and he went off to Oregon, then they named Coach Cox the the receivers coach, and we already had that connection, so it just got even stronger once he got the receivers job once Coach McClendon left,” Coleman said. “He and Coach Bobo can get a receiver the ball in any situation with the various route trees they have for receivers. “They are heading up. I’m very serious about them. They are on the list for a reason.”
Yardage after catch is a big thing with Coleman. Last season he caught 35 passes for 1143 yards and 22 touchdowns. He averaged nearly 33 yards per catch.
“I can do it all, and they like to run screens,” Coleman said. “They want a receiver that can run and not get caught in space with the big play ability and over-the-top ability too.”
Coleman resides in the homestate of the defending national champions in LSU. The Tigers have not offered despite Coleman being rated a four-star and ranked the #9 prospect in Louisiana in the 247Sports Composite. And that’s fine with Coleman.
“I don’t want to go there,” he said. “I’m not a big fan of them, not at all. I don’t know, I just don’t want to go there at all.”
Coleman also is a big-time basketball prospect who averaged 26 points per game last season. He plans to play both sports in college and has talked with Gamecock basketball coach Frank Martin about that. But he said his decision will be based more on the football side of things compared to basketball.
