Where Gamecock commits think USC stands with Tank Bigsby
South Carolina wide receiver commit Da’Qon Stewart didn’t mince words.
He and other Gamecocks commits had a mission to recruit this past weekend. They were together with a handful of talented uncommitted recruits, but Stewart said one player took a little bit more precedence.
“We were trying to get Tank (Bigsby),” Stewart said. “We were trying to get Tank the hardest.
“We’re trying to get Tank and Myles (Murphy). That’s who we’re trying the hardest to get.”
Murphy, a defensive end from North Carolina, came out of the weekend saying the Gamecocks are holding strong as his favorite. Bigsby, a powerful tailback and the No. 50 player in the country in the 247 Sports composite rankings, doesn’t speak too much publicly.
But the Calloway High School (Georgia) star, who ran for 2,221 yards and 22 touchdowns last season, gave some of his fellow visitors a hint.
“Tank came away, he told us we were in his top 5,” Stewart said. “He said he likes us a lot. And then he said the crazy thing, nobody ever like gave him a tank. It was great. I think we have a chance of landing him.”
A picture taken by the school’s staff appeared online after the visit, quarterback commit Luke Doty standing beside Bigsby, flanked by Stewart and fellow receive pledge Mike Wyman.
Doty said he felt a lot of camaraderie over the weekend, and he thought Bigsby felt that as well.
“I think it was a great weekend for him,” Doty said. “We all got to hang out together and be around each other for the most part. I think he’s really comfortable with all of us, all the coaches and just Columbia in general. He loves being there.”
Bigsby has a laundry list of offers, including Auburn, Georgia, Tennessee, LSU, Alabama and Clemson. The 247 crystal ball has seven of nine experts picking him to end up in Columbia (the other two for Georgia).
If he joins the class, he’ll be the second running back and give the Gamecocks one of their best backfield hauls in recent memory. On memorial day, Maryland tailback MarShawn Lloyd, the No. 28 player in the country, picked South Carolina in a bit of a surprise.
If USC gets both, the pair will represent two of the top four running backs the program has brought in since 2004 along with Marcus Lattimore and Mike Davis. The next best tailback recruit in that stretch was Brian Maddox, the No. 94 recruit in the country.
One other thing that emerged was a viral-ready photo of Bigsby standing atop (what else?) a tank.
Doty said he didn’t know about it until he saw it online. Bigsby was showing it to folks, and Doty had a bit of a sense of how it came about.
“The practice facility is right next to the armory,” Doty said. “So I think they just went over there when they got there before breakfast. They had the tank ready to go. … He pulled up on it and I guess they snapped a few pictures of him.
“It was pretty cool.”
This story was originally published June 2, 2019 at 9:37 PM.