DT Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins of Gaffney wiped the slate clean and named a new top six earlier this week. USC, Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia were the holdovers from his previous short list. Virginia Tech and Alabama were the newcomers. Ingram-Dawkins added to his tweet that a commitment would be coming soon. Thursday night he set that commitment time for mid to late August.
“All of them are recruiting me real hard,” Ingram-Dawkins said. “I put VT out for a couple of months because I didn’t really have a strong relationship with them. When I put them out, what stood out was they didn’t stop recruiting me. They started recruiting me harder when I put them out. When I put them out we developed a good relationship and I’ve been talking to them the whole time. The relationship just kept growing and I just put them in my tops. I’ve got a good relationship with the whole coaching staff now.”
Alabama was a late offer for Ingram-Dawkins, but that wasn’t a negative to him. The Crimson Tide are doing their best to make up for lost time.
“I talk to them a lot,” Ingram-Dawkins said. “I’ve got a good relationship with Coach (Nick) Saban, Coach (Charles) Kelly and Coach (Freddie) Roach. Everything is going good. I’ve been doing meetings with them and looking at the campus and all that. We can’t take visits so I’m just trying to make the best out of it.”
USC has been a constant presence with Ingram-Dawkins, and it was thought he was on the verge of a commitment to the Gamecocks in May before deciding not to make a decision. Nothing has changed between the two.
“I do a lot of stuff with them,” Ingram-Dawkins said. “It’s my home state, home school. I’ve been there like three times and I’ve seen the whole school. It was my first SEC offer. My bond with Coach T-Rob (Travaris Robinson) and Coach (Will Muschamp) is real tight. I talk to them every day. I talk to every school every day.”
Ingram-Dawkins said he’s also had a virtual visit with each school, and with a plan to commit in mid to late August, that will have to do. He won’t have the chance to make real visits before he makes his decision. And the decision, he said, will be based on a couple of factors.
“First off, I want to make sure I’m going to be getting into the game,” Ingram-Dawkins said. “And I want to make sure I’m getting a good education also. There’s no favorite. I just want to look at everything about the school, see what’s around it and all that type of stuff.”
Over the course of the summer, Ingram-Dawkins has seen his stock improve in the 247Sports Composite despite not attending any of the recent evaluation camps. He’s not listed as a four-star and ranked as the #1 prospect in the state.
