Tight end Oscar Delp of Cumming, GA is practically everyone’s number one target when it comes to tight ends. Only a few, however, are getting the chance to have him on campus this month. He started June 1st with an unofficial visit to Alabama. Two days later he was at Clemson for an unofficial visit while watching his brothers compete in camp. And last weekend, he made his first official visit to Georgia., where Delp said just being one of the guys was a great experience.
“Hanging out with the players and the people there, everyone was awesome and really friendly,” Delp said. “I felt really welcomed. I loved the environment. I had really good talks with everyone on the staff. I felt like I knew everyone really well. Obviously, coach (Todd) Hartley is the main guy recruiting me, so I probably have the best relationship him and Coach (Kirby) Smart. Really, any of the coaches were all really cool, really welcoming and really awesome to talk to.”
Delp has made several stops at Georgia, and he said what made this one different was getting to interact with many of the current Bulldogs.
“Just getting around a lot of the big-time players there,” Delp said. “They really didn’t act Hollywood or anything. They were all really cool and nice to all of us. They were hanging out with all of us and took us around and showed us everything. It was really cool to be around those high-profile guys and they were acting just like our teammates already.”
Thursday Delp was at Clemson as Dabo Swinney and company conducted camp. He spent a lot of time with tight ends coach and offensive coordinator Tony Elliott.
“I talked to Coach Elliott all the time,” Delp said. “We had some great talks. We were with each other a whole bunch. He’s really cool, an awesome coach. He knows everything you can know about the tight end position. He played wide receiver in college, so he’s kind of incorporating some of that stuff in there. I think he’s going to do some real good things at the tight end position.”
From the practice fields, Delp and his family made their way to Swinney’s house on the edge of town. There, he got some serious one-on-one time with the head coach.
“We got to go to Dabo’s house and hang out with him and a couple of tight ends,” Delp said. “He was awesome, just being real personable with us. He’s a real special coach and we had some great talks. Just how they can develop me and I’m the guy that they want, and they let me know that. They are really not recruiting a whole lot of guys. I’m pretty much the main guy they are recruiting right now. They went all-in on me and now it’s my turn to make the decision.”
Delp added that not everything at the Swinney mansion that afternoon and night was serious recruiting business.
“He played H-O-R-S-E with us on his indoor basketball court,” Delp said. “We went down to his basement, and he had an indoor golf simulator. I mean, it was the craziest house I’ve ever been to. My brother actually snapped his driver in half. That will be one thing he’s going to tell his kids when he’s older. I guess he missed the ball and the top snapped off. It wasn’t like an expensive driver. They had a ton. All of them were dented from all the players using them.”
Delp is not finished with Clemson this summer. He said he plans to return for the All-In Cookout the last weekend of July.
This weekend Delp will take his official visit to Florida. Early next week he takes an official visit to Michigan. And on June 25th he’ll take his official visit to USC. He said while he’s traveling. the Gamecock staff is staying in regular contact as they have throughout the process. Delp said he’s also looking at an unofficial visit to North Carolina the last week of July.
Now that he’s able to see some of his finalists in person, Delp was asked if any one place has struck him yet as “the place.”
“There’s something with every school that makes me thing that,” Delp said. “I think it’s really going to come down to after all my visits, whichever one does that the most, then that’s where I’ll be.”
