First-year South Carolina running backs coach Stan Drayton brought his little black book with him from Penn State, and not long after he arrived in Columbia, he looked up a previous Nittany Lion target in RB Trey Stewart I6-1 205) of Little Rock, AR.
Drayton offered Stewart four days after Shane Beamer hired him. In fact, one of the first recruiting stops Drayton made with the Gamecocks was a little over a week ago when he flew out to see Stewart at his home in Little Rock.
“It was just like a blessing that he came all the way down here for me,” Stewart said. “Knowing that, it just brought more interest from me in that program, and for Coach Drayton. He’s always been looking at me, and I’ve just been sticking with him for a minute. It’s just been a really great process with him.”
Drayton is a veteran coach with a lot of miles under the hood. The fact that Drayton has seen a thing or two in the world of football is big with Stewart when he thinks about who he wants to coach him in the future.
“He’s a great mentor, he has a lot of history,” Stewart said. “He told me he’s been doing it for 32 years, and I feel like, with all that history he has, he can always put it in me and lead me the right way to where I’m trying to get.”
Stewart said he will set a visit with the Gamecocks, but he won’t make it this month for the junior day on January 24th. He’ll be at Arkansas that day. He also has Penn State, Oklahoma, Miami and Ole Miss on his current short list, with South Carolina right there as well.
Stewart said that as he makes visits and compares programs, there are a few key items he’ll be checking into.
“How can fit in their run game and how they run their offense,” he said. “The environments, the relationship with coaches, and the history the program and the coaches have had during their time they’ve been doing this.”
Stewart, who plans to decide in the spring, scored 13 touchdowns this past season while rushing for 940 yards and catching 27 passes for 319 yards. He was named All-Conference and All-State.