USC coach Shane Beamer and secondary coach Torrian Gray offered Abbeville SAF Damarcus Leach (6-3 185) during a camp last June. They were the first to step up with an offer to the hard-hitting product of one of the state’s top programs, and that has given the Gamecocks somewhat of a leg up in the recruiting competition at this point.
“I’ve been talking to them a long time,” Leach said. “Coach Gray, Coach Beamer, they are showing a lot of love as far as coming down for a football game. Coach Gray actually came to a basketball game of mine. Only way I can say Coach Gray is favored is because the communication with him has been longer, has been developed more. That’s the thing that I’d say has formed an advantage over the other schools.”
Leach can play any of the three positions in the secondary. In fact, he said Gray sees him as someone who can come in and play in a real position of need for the Gamecocks.
“Sometimes we have conversations about safety. Sometimes we have different conversations about corner,” Leach said. “One day we might have a conversation about nickel because he said they couldn’t find a natural nickel. Me playing it in high school and my length, and he said of course I’ll put on weight, but he’s talked to me about any position in the secondary.”
Leach was also offered last summer by Virginia Tech following a camp workout. He’s also picked up offers from Vanderbilt, Duke and, most recently, Appalachian State. His only visit on the recruiting trail thus far in 2024 was last weekend to USC when he and his family spent the day meeting with the coaches and others affiliated with the program.
“It was good and different,” Leach said. “I had an uncle who went to play college football many, many years ago, so it’s pretty much new to my family, especially to my parents. He’s my great uncle actually, so my mom was just a kid when he was playing, so it’s a lot of information she felt like she needed to know, and she got to know. She chit-chat with Coach Gray, chit-chat with some of the different parents that was there, just to hear about the school in general. More from just a football game day visit, more on the academics, the ins and outs of the school, how you can get help. It was real informational.”
Leach plans to take more visits in March and April after basketball season and wants to hit up the schools that have offered him. Clemson, which has not offered, has shown interest, and he visited there last season. While indications would point strongly to the Gamecocks as a favorite at this point coming the visit with them, Leach wants to let things play out a little bit longer.
“I wouldn’t say yet,” regarding a favorite Leach said. “I don’t feel like it will be much longer after we go to these spring visits and stuff, and we’ll kind of know. I want to be able to wrap the recruiting process up in a couple of months and commit because I plan on doing mid-year enrollment. I plan to wrap up my recruiting process in a couple of months and take the right steps in picking my home, picking my destination. That’s kind of what’s going on right now.”