When Hilinski meets a fellow USC commit at The Opening, they’ve got a recruiting list

South Carolina football quarterback commit Ryan Hilinski has a plan.

He’s in Frisco, Texas, for The Opening. He arrived before fellow USC pledge Joseph Anderson, a four-star defensive end from Tennessee. When they get together, they’ve got work to do.

“We’ve talked about who we need to get on board, what we need to do exactly,” Hilinski said. “He said when he gets in, we’re going to talk, we’re going to write down names that we need.”

The Opening provides a lot of chances for some of the top recruits in the country to meet, interact and compete. When they’re all together, it’s little surprise some want to bring others into the respective folds of their own recruiting classes.

Hilinski has been a tireless recruiter for USC since making his pledge in April. He worked on four-star receiver Keveon Mullins, who picked USC, and continues to talk to multiple blue chip players.

He only tipped the name of one player he’ll be focused on, but it will be a familiar name to those who follow South Carolina recruiting.

Madison, Ala., cornerback Jaydon Hill visited USC the same weekend as Hilinski in mid-June and has said publicly he’s down to the Gamecocks and Tennessee. He’s a four-star prospect in the top 300 of the 247Sports Composite rankings.

Hilinski is seeing him again in Texas, and he’s got the pitch prepared, starting with a chance to play quickly.

“Really just sit down with him at this experience, just show that South Carolina is the place for him,” Hilinski said. “It’s going to be a fight between us and Tennessee with him. But I think South Carolina, once he knows he’s a guy there, they play the most true freshmen in the SEC, he’s going to be truly excited about the opportunity.”

This story was originally published July 1, 2018 at 10:55 AM.