Friday will be big for the USC football program if the Gamecocks beat out Florida State, Purdue, and Rutgers for RB Brayden Tyson of Snellville, GA. He announces at 3:30, and much of the speculation on his decision has been focused on USC after his official visit the first weekend of the month.
While Tyson is wrapping things up, the other top running back target for the Gamecocks, Tre Segarra (5-10 205) of Byrnes, is about to kick his recruiting into high gear.
He makes his first official visit this weekend to Indiana. He has Stanford next weekend. After an off week, he will be visiting Penn State, Tennessee, and USC over the first three weekends in June. He is looking at July 3rd or 4th for his commitment announcement.
Byrnes coach Reggie Shaw said Segarra has been preparing for this stage of his recruitment, and he knows what he wants to see and experience on these visits.
“I think he’s going to make a forty-year decision,” Shaw said. “He has a plan of possibly commercial real estate, or something in business, so he wants to be in a program that’s going to prepare him for life after football. But he also wants to be coached and developed, to have an opportunity to play in the NFL, because he has that kind of talent. He’s looking for the total package, but also a good fit. He’s got a lot of criteria. Monetarily, I don’t think that’s a big priority as much as those first two that I mentioned.”
A few years ago, the Gamecocks’ coaching staff under Steve Spurrier went above and beyond in recruiting another Byrnes running back by the name of Marcus Lattimore. Spurrier, according to reports at that time, even stepped out of his comfort zone to some degree in developing a relationship with Lattimore and his family. Shaw said he’s seeing a similar effort from Shane Beamer and his staff when it comes to Segarra.
“They’ve been tremendous in their efforts,” Shaw said. “They’ve brought the most guys on the visits. From Coach Beamer, Coach Briles, and Coach Drayton, all of those guys have been consistent in their recruitment. I feel like they’ve got a good shot, just like anybody else. He’s at Indiana this weekend, so who knows? Tre is going to make the best educated decision for him and his family. He’s got some criteria, and I think he’ll write it out, the pros and cons, and take a very analytical approach to it.”
And, according to his coach, Segarra is going into his official visits wide-eyed and wide open on his decision.
“I think he’s going in objectively and just looking at the total package and what’s going to be the best fit for him,” Shaw said. “He wants to play early. That’s a factor. I think he has that ability. Physically, he’s advanced with strength and size, and football IQ. I think if he walks in with the opportunity to play as a freshman, I think that would be big.”
Segarra, who is also a high-level soccer player, has rushed for 2834 yards and 29 touchdowns in his career with the Rebels.