What Frank Martin said about Jordan Burch and possible USC basketball future
Jordan Burch, now officially South Carolina’s prized football recruit of the 2020 class, took in another Gamecocks basketball game Saturday.
The two-sport star at Hammond watched from behind the USC bench as Frank Martin’s team rolled Texas A&M at Colonial Life Arena. He was in the same spot last week — seated next to football coach Will Muschamp — as Carolina beat Missouri.
Burch will be playing football for the Gamecocks in 2020. But will he be on the basketball team, too?
“Will recruited him, not me,” Martin said. “But I’ve spent a lot of time watching him play basketball over the last four years. He’s a really good player. That option, which was part of the recruitment, is on the table for him.
“And I think you guys know me by now, I like football guys. But it takes certain human beings to be able to do it because it’s not easy.”
The 6-foot-5, 265-pound Burch is averaging 15 points, nine rebounds and three assists for Hammond this season.
Martin has welcomed football players to his roster before, most recently Evan Hinson.
“Jordan is a really good basketball player,” Martin said. “So that was part of recruiting him, was that if he came here I believe in him as a basketball player. That option is on the table.
“When he was here at the Missouri game, he told me at shoot-around, ‘I’ll make that decision when (football) season’s over.’ Which I fully understand. It all sounds good and then you line up and you get your head beat in every single week, that body doesn’t feel right.
“But that option’s on the table.”
This story was originally published February 8, 2020 at 3:58 PM.
