One of the prospects South Carolina defensive ends coach Deion Barnes became acquainted with while at Penn State is DE Abraham Sesay (6-5 225) of Exton, PA. The two made a connection then, and they have extended that relationship to include the Gamecocks now that Barnes is working for Shane Beamer.
Last Saturday, Sesay made his first stop of the spring at South Carolina for what was his first-ever visit to the campus.
“I thought it was great. They had amazing energy,” Sesay said. “It was good to get down to Columbia for the first time. I had a really great visit. The campus was great. The academic part was amazing. Going to their practice, it was cool to see Coach Barnes and everybody do their thing. “He’s been recruiting for longer than a year now, and it’s just cool to see his coaching translate to another program, and see how he’s coaching his guys versus how he coached his guys at Penn State.”
The Gamecocks have developed a national reputation when it comes to recruiting and developing defensive ends. Dylan Stewart is the current attraction that all of the young ends have heard about, and what to be like. Sesay included.
“They talked about their scheme and what they do with their ends, like Dylan Stewart,” Sesay said. “They showed me how I would fit in their scheme and how I would be able to create lots of plays, how they play their defensive ends and their edges. Just talking to me about how I would fit in the scheme and what I would be able to do for their defense. They have a really great scheme with their ends making sure they don’t have to think too much and just go, go, go, and really get after the quarterback and affect the offense in many different ways. I definitely can see myself playing in that system.”
South Carolina has a road to travel with Sesay to get seriously into the mix. He did not commit to an official visit with the Gamecocks while on his visit, but he will consider them after he takes the rest of his spring visits.
“It definitely helped them a lot,” he said of the visit. “I didn’t know too much about South Carolina prior, and I definitely learned a lot. It’s definitely a program I want to stay in touch with and see how far it could go. I’m keeping everything open and evaluating schools all fairly throughout these visits.”
Sesay will visit Florida State this coming Saturday. He is also scheduled to see Miami and Notre Dame in April. He’s also considering a visit to LSU. Right now, he has Notre Dame, Duke, and Miami down for official visits.
Last season, Sesay had 80 tackles and 13 sacks.