The end of the recruiting trail for OG Elyjah Thurmon (6-5 275) of Hinesville, GA is in sight. Thurmon is down to Clemson, USC and Georgia Tech. He visited the Tigers officially on November 10th. He made multiple unofficial visits to Georgia Tech. And this weekend he will visit USC officially. He plans to announce a commitment Monday afternoon.
“The thing most I’m looking forward to is being around the players and staff,” Thurmon said about this weekend’s visit. “So, getting to learn from the coaches how they treat players, how campus life is, then learning from the players what their experience is like on campus. How they felt being recruited by coach Teasley. How they feel amongst each other. How practicing is and how it is run, and how everything just works together with everybody. Also, getting to learn about the education on campus as well.”
USC offensive line coach Lonnie Teasley has been the frontman for the Gamecocks with Thurmon, and the two will spend a lot of time together this weekend.
“Talking to coach Teasley, he keeps reminding me this could be the place for me because of the caliber of player I am,” Thurmon said. “The way I play, my athleticism, how mean I am, I can be a dominating player.”
Thurmon is dealing with a new offensive line coach at Clemson now. Thomas Austin had been recruiting him, but he was fired last week and replaced Monday with veteran offensive line coach Matt Luke. Thurmon said he and Luke spoke for the first time last night.
“It doesn’t really change how I feel about them, it just makes me more fired up,” he said. “The fact that they’ve got a legendary coach in coach Luke. He’s originally from Mississippi, so I am as well, so that connection got us started. Then I got to learn a little bit about his resume. He coached at Ole Miss and then he went to UGA and won a natty there. He said that he coached Larry Tunsil and guys like Broderick Jones, that held me up a lot because I watch film on those guys and those guys are real high caliber offensive linemen.”
Going into the final weekend before his decision, Thurmon said Clemson is the team to beat for him.
“Right now, I’d say that right there would be the criteria out of my options,” Thurmon said. “Out of my top three schools right now, Clemson leads as in my expectations and what to expect.”
Thurmon said his mother, uncle and two cousins will join him on his visit to USC.