To Luke Doty, last weekend was a big step for South Carolina’s 2020 recruiting class

At the end of the weekend, South Carolina’s football team had added offensive lineman Jazston Turnetine to its 2020 recruiting class and made some headway with a few other key targets.

But in a different way, it represented a step of sorts in the mind of quarterback Luke Doty.

“It was the perfect time to do it,” Doty said. “There was so much going on where we were all together. That was really the most fun part about it. It’s definitely a special thing.

“You’ve got guys coming from a lot of different places, so it’s really cool to just kind of get to know them and get to know their families, starting building that bond that will last a lifetime.”

Six of the team’s seven players committed before the weekend were on campus, and another joined in Turnetine. That group got to get close, spend time both together and with some of the veterans, plus try to work on the likes of four-stars Myles Murphy, Tank Bigsby and Josh Braun, plus three-star Dominick Hill.

Doty was hosted by freshman quarterback Ryan Hilinski, himself only in his fifth month on campus. It’s not the first time Doty has stayed with Hilinski (the Myrtle Beach passer was up during spring break), and the two are building a good relationship.

They, along with some other players, got to spend part of Friday night exploring, doing some Topgolf downtown and then messing around at Frankie’s Fun Park.

Doty also got to spend some time with Braun, a 6-foot-6, 335-pound offensive tackle who is the No. 255 player in the 247 Sports composite rankings.

“We built a pretty good relationship over the course of the three days we were there,” Doty said.

The rising senior who led his high school team to a state title in Williams-Brice Stadium last season won’t be gone long either.

He and wide receivers Da’Qon Stewart and Mike Wyman will be back in Columbia on Friday for a camp, getting to work on their skills and likely with each other. Doty said the trio started getting to know each other when each receiver committed.

Doty threw to Stewart at The Opening a few weeks ago, but he has yet to toss it around with Wyman.

“It’s going to be another great opportunity to just get to work and continue to build that bond with them,” Doty said. “Get down to business.”

This story was originally published June 2, 2019 at 9:39 PM.