#STRecruiting: Four-star tight end has ties to #Clemson and #Gamecocks

2022 TE Oscar Delp (6-5 22) of Cumming, GA is rated as a four-star prospect in the 247Sports Composite and is ranked the #10 tight end nationally in his class. He has multiple major offers at this point including Georgia, Michigan, Alabama, Auburn, Arkansas, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Ohio State, Southern Cal, North Carolina, Stanford, Florida State, Duke, Georgia Tech, Michigan State, Minnesota and West Virginia. Clemson and USC are likely to be two of the next to offer, and things will get very interesting for Delp once they do.

“Right now I’m pretty wide open,” Delp said.  “I’ve got a nice feeling of some schools that if I were to narrow it down would be in the mix.  I’m pretty open just because with the whole Covid deal going on, I haven’t really been able to experience recruiting like I should be and like I hopefully will be able to after April and get out and get a feel for all the schools.  The only two schools I’ve been to have been Georgia and Auburn.”

Delp said Georgia, Michigan, Southern Cal and North Carolina are just four of the schools where he he has built good relationships with the coaches and offer the high academics he seeks. And Clemson is starting to creep into the picture with intensified contact.

“It’s really started picking up.  I’ve been on the phone with coach (Brandon) Streeter and coach (Danny) Pearman a lot lately,” Delp said.  “My uncle (James Chappell) played at Clemson and he gave me a call.  I guess they talked.  He was asking them if there is a chance they get me and I’m pretty much their next guy on the board now.  He asked me for my transcript today.  I’ve got a really strong feeling that something is going to be happening very soon.”

When that offer comes, Clemson immediately becomes a major player.

“It definitely would be a school I would look into,” he said.  “My family has a strong history there.  We’ve got family in Columbia.  It’s a great school and competing for a national championship.  That is one of the schools I’ve been to before Covid.  I camped there, so I kind of have a feel for the campus and I really enjoyed it.  It’s definitely going to be a school that’s going to be up there.” 

Same with South Carolina. Thanks to new head coach Shane Beamer. Delp said former Gamecock coach Will Muschamp showed no interest in him. That’s changed now that Beamer is in Columbia.

“Coach Beamer was actually recruiting me to play tight end at Oklahoma,” Delp said.  “He got the new job and he knew that I have history with South Carolina.  I grew up a South Carolina fan my whole life.  My walls are covered with Connor Shaw and Marcus Lattimore to this day.  We have family in Columbia.  My grandparents live there and my mom went to South Carolina, so I kind of grew up going to those games.  I’ve had him and a couple of other coaches reach out to me and say that they really want me.  He’s reached out to me personally a bunch saying I’m going to be one of the guys that they are going to recruit hard.  He’s still putting his staff together, so I don’t what that means for the tight ends coach.  I don’t know if they are going to look for a new one or how that’s going to play out.  I’m just waiting for them to fill out their new coaching staff and we’ll see what goes on from there.”

Delp admits the early lack of interest from his childhood favorite took him and his family by surprise, and it’s taken a little time to get over it, but they are getting there.

“Now I’m a really highly recruited kid I’d like to think of, and they’ve been one of those schools that really hasn’t reached out to me at all, which has kind of put a weird taste in our mouths,” Delp said.  “My mom is a die-hard South Carolina fan, but didn’t hear from them at all, so that was kind of surprising.  Now that there’s been the coaching change, I think they are going to get back on top of it and I think that I’m one of the guys they are going to want.” 

Delp said he won’t rush to a decision because he wants to get out and take some visits once the dead period is rescinded, possibly in the spring.

Last season Delp had 740 receiving yards and 10 touchdown catches.