Deion Barnes has been on the job at South Carolina for less than a week, but he’s already building a recruiting board of defensive ends he’d like to coach with the Gamecocks. His early reach outs have been to guys he was tight with while at Penn State.
His second offer of the week was to DE Mekai Brown (6-7 230) of Greenwich, CT. Brown and Barnes have developed a strong recruiting bond. He camped with the Nittany Lions last summer and was at State College for a game this season.
“I’m excited to keep building on the relationship that we built at Penn State,” Brown said regarding the Gamecock offer from Barnes. “He was recruiting me pretty heavy at Penn State. I’m just excited to keep it going. I really like his coaching style, and he’s obviously a proven coach with the guys he’s coached.”
Brown was not being recruited by South Carolina prior to his phone call from Barnes on Tuesday with the offer. That generated immediate interest from him in the Gamecocks without Barnes having to do a sales job.
“He didn’t have to say too much because we’ve built a pretty strong relationship,” Brown said “It’s not like he’s going to a much lesser program. South Carolina is obviously SEC, a big market school like Penn State. He didn’t have to say much. I kind of know what it is already with them.
“I’ve watched a few games here and there. I know Dylan Stewart and obviously I like watching him. (Jadeveon) Clowney was pretty influential on me when I was younger. That hit against Michigan was crazy.”
In nine games this season, Brown had 68 tackles with 11 tackles for loss and 10 sacks. Pressuring the quarterback is what he does best, and that’s what Barnes hopes to see him do one day with him in Columbia.
“He really likes my game,” Brown said. “He thinks I can really elevate my game even further under his coaching. That’s been his message to me while he was at Penn State, and now that’s his message to me now while he’s at South Carolina.”
Besides Penn State, Brown also went to games this season at Ohio State, Southern Cal and Tennessee. Brown said the only visits he’s locked down for January are to Tennessee and Ole Miss, but he said he will visit South Carolina at some point.
Brown plans to take his official visits in the summer and make his decision after that.