The USC football coaching staff has had a busy June with camps and prospect visits. They will cap things off this weekend with their second big official visit weekend of the month. Currently 12 prospects are scheduled for official visits with the Gamecocks including DE Tomiwa Durojaiye (6-5 255) of Wilmington, DE, the teammate of Gamecock quarterback commitment Braden Davis who also will be coming in for an official visit.
Durojaiye has also taken official visits to Arkansas, Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt, and unofficial visits to USC, Virginia, Duke, Georgia Tech, Rutgers and West Virginia. In his mind, he’s getting closer to deciding on a school.
“I’m down to five or six schools I’m really interested in,” Durojaiye said. “For me, the biggest thing was getting a feel for places, figuring out where I feel like is the best fit for me personally. I would say the top ones are South Carolina, Georgia Tech, West Virginia, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, and Arkansas a little.”
Durojaiye made a personal visit to USC in late April for the spring game and a look at the campus. He’ll have his mother with him this weekend and he wants to do a deeper dive into the program.
“Just a feel for the program and seeing how the players interact with the coaches,” Durojaiye said. “I feel like sometimes you know when you know. I’ve been some places and I’m like, this isn’t it. And there were some places I thought I like but then I went somewhere else and it was a huge difference. On the field, all the programs I’m really interested in are all on the uprising. I feel like they’ve all got the right staff. The only difference right now is figuring out which staff I feel like can develop me best. I believe my upside is tremendously high and it’s really just trying to find that staff that will help me get there.”
Apparently the Gamecock coaches, like Shane Beamer, Jimmy Lindsey and Pete Lembo, are as excited to have him visit as he is to make the visit.
“They’ve been sending me a countdown, like ten days before my visit,” Durojaiye said. “I’m talking to Coach Lindsey often, like one to three times a week. I’m also talking to Coach Lembo because he’s the recruiter for my area. And Coach Beamer, some head coaches don’t reach out, but me and Coach Beamer have a good relationship. He reaches out to me and texts me constantly. My favorite thing about them is they don’t mention the Delaware guys or my teammate that’s committed there. It’s really just them committing me. Even after he committed, there’s never been talks about Braden, it’s just recruiting me. And I truly appreciate that.”
It doesn’t hurt the Gamecocks’ case here to have Durojaiye’s teammate already committed. But he said fans shouldn’t think he and Davis are connected at the hip in the recruiting process.
“He’s not in my ear like some would think, but more like just jokes,” Durojaiye said. “Any chance he gets to hint at me coming to South Carolina or crack a joke say I should come there he’ll do it. He’s not pressuring me because he knows how serious it is. He just finished going thru it. Obviously it would be cool to play with someone I went to high school with. But it’s not a deciding factor for me. I feel like for me I’ve got to find the best fit for me.”
After the visit, Durojaiye said he’ll name a short list of schools he’s serious about, and he plans to make his decision in August.
Others scheduled to join Durojaiye and Davis for official visits in Columbia this weekend include committed WR Dane Key, TE Oscar Delp, DT Nick James, CB Keenan Nelson, CB Trequon Fagans, CB Chris Graves, DT Jamari Lyons, CB Nikai Martinez, SAF Anthony Rose and LB Mason Thomas.
