South Carolina got the first chance to wine and dine OT Stafford Willis (6-5 283) of Arab, AL, as he commenced his official visit tour two weeks ago in Columbia. Gamecock offensive line coach Randy Clements has been recruiting Willis hard and is expected to make his second visit to Arab next week.
Willis had already made two spring visits to USC before his official, and the Gamecocks continue to climb up his personal chart.
“It did them a lot of good,” Willis said. “It kind of boosted them. They are one of my top few right now. Definitely at the top portion of my list. They jumped a couple of other people. It was an incredible visit. They did a real good job making it feel like home. I really like them. It was good to get to know the coaches outside of football, how they are as human beings, not just coaches, which is also real important.”
Clements has laid out a very clear plan for Willis if he were to join the Gamecocks, and it’s a plan he likes.
“Their plan would be to start me at tackle because they want you to start where you are comfortable,” Willis said. “They plan to start me at tackle, and depending on how I do there is whether they’ll move me to guard or not. Their plan is for me to develop for a year, maybe two, and then start to play. That would be awesome. If I have a real good spring, then I might be able to play true freshman year, but they see me as a guy maybe PAT/field goal team freshman year, then start to play my second year.”
After taking last weekend off, Willis will return to the road this weekend for an official visit to UCLA. He has Oklahoma State scheduled for May 29th, Virginia Tech on June 5th, and Arkansas on June 19th. His plan now is to take them all so that he can learn more about each program.
“I really want to get to know the coaches outside of football,” Willis said. “It’s hard to keep a poker face for three days on a visit, so you get to know how they truly act. And being around the team and seeing how the culture truly is. Coaches can say they have a great culture, but you’ll know if people like to be there based on how they respond to those questions.”
Did the Gamecocks check all of those boxes two weeks ago?
“Absolutely,” he said. “It was incredible. It was a phenomenal visit. I really enjoyed my time there.”
Willis added that he lives about 45 minutes from former Alabama great and NFL Hall of Fame offensive lineman John Hannah, and he gets the chance to talk with him now and then about playing the position at the highest level.