Gamecocks add talented Atlanta receiver. He happens to be a longtime Bobo recruit
Mike Bobo’s place of employment was a couple time zones away, but he always found a way to come home.
“We recruited the South heavy at Colorado State,” the newly minted South Carolina offensive coordinator said Monday. “Everybody recruits Georgia heavy.”
Bobo is a Peach State native and longtime UGA assistant who was in charge of Colorado State from 2015-19. It was during that period with the Rams when Bobo was introduced to Rico Powers, a rising receiver prospect out of Benedictine High School in Savannah.
“I’ve known him since my sophomore year,” Powers said Wednesday. “He offered me when he was at Colorado State.”
Powers, who transferred to Hapeville Charter in Atlanta for his senior season, committed to South Carolina in September. Bobo, fired by CSU on Dec. 4, was hired by USC on Dec. 10.
“Everything works out,” Powers said.
Powers was among the top players in the Atlanta-area invited to have a signing day ceremony at The Battery restaurant outside SunTrust Park. He has a four-star rating, according to 247Sports, and was just voted his region’s “Athlete of the Year,” according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
But all of this coming Carolina’s way could have been put on hold when Bryan McClendon was relieved of his play-calling duties. McClendon was Powers’ lead recruiter to the Gamecocks. On Dec. 1, McClendon was no longer offensive coordinator.
“It was kind of tough,” Powers said. “But I really wasn’t thinking about that. I was just checking up on Coach B-Mac, making sure everything was good. But we talked and we’re still on the same page.”
What’s happened since, though, has been positive for Powers. McClendon has remained on the USC staff as receivers coach — and another familiar face is now calling plays.
“I’ve known Bobo since the Georgia days,” said Hapeville coach Winston Gordon. “So I really felt comfortable, even though Rico had made the commitment with B-Mac being the OC.
“Those two (Bobo and McClendon) worked together at Georgia. So they have a relationship and a mutual respect for one another. They’re all Dawgs, so I think they all know what their common goal is and they all want to be successful. ... I think B-Mac’s a phenomenal coach and that’s why I encouraged my kid to continue to stick with the commitment.”
Bobo’s already had an in-home visit with Powers.
“Coach Bobo, he’s a good OC, he’s a good play-caller,” Powers said. “I’m just ready to come in and work hard. Whatever he wants me to do, I’m going to do it.”
The 6-foot-1, 183-pound Powers joins a USC receiving corps that returns a veteran like Shi Smith but also loses Bryan Edwards, the program’s all-time leader in catches and yards.
“I think he’ll stretch the field for them,” Gordon said. “He’ll give them that big guy like Edwards over the top. And when you got a guy that can stretch the field, you can do a lot of different things with some of the other smaller guys that they have.
“Rico’s long, he runs a 4.4 40, so I think he’s a phenomenal athlete. And he should bring that same skill set to the Gamecocks.”
This story was originally published December 19, 2019 at 5:00 AM.
