‘Felt most at home’: How and why Ger-Cari Caldwell signed with South Carolina
Ger-Cari Caldwell is a Gamecock.
The three-star wide receiver from Northwestern High School in Rock Hill signed to play football at the University of South Carolina on Wednesday morning. He did so surrounded by teammates, coaches and other athletes in his school’s gym.
Before National Signing Day, Caldwell had been among the most sought-after uncommitted prospects in the state. The 6-foot-4, 195-pound receiver notched 51 catches for 744 yards and six touchdowns in his senior football season and took official visits at several schools afterward — including at Baylor, Tennessee, South Carolina, Wake Forest and East Carolina, where he was committed to prior to the season.
“After that coaching change at Baylor, it kind of really shifted my mind,” Caldwell told reporters after his decision. “And then, with Tennessee, I loved the visit. But it ultimately came down to where I felt most at home.”
South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp and the Gamecock staff were not coy about their interest in Caldwell in the months after his senior season.
The Gamecocks offered Caldwell a scholarship in December. They kept close tabs on him during the Shrine Bowl and throughout his high school basketball season — including at an MLK Basketball Showcase in Rock Hill, where Muschamp watched nearly nine hours of basketball to see him and another potential recruit play.
All the while, Caldwell reciprocated his interest: In early December, after receiving his initial offer, he called South Carolina his “dream school” — citing the school’s proximity to his home and the football program’s prestige. Later that month, he told The State that “all he could have is success” under the tutelage of USC offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, who coached NFL wide receiver A.J. Green while at Georgia.
With his signing, Caldwell joins a 2020 USC recruiting class that includes receivers Mike Wyman and Rico Powers.
“I know it’s pretty deep now,” Caldwell said of the Gamecocks’ receiving corps.
Caldwell: ‘Exactly how I wanted it’
Caldwell and his brother, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Anthony Johnson, walked into the Northwestern gym around 9:45 a.m. for the 10 a.m. signing.
Trojans football coach Page Wofford, sporting a striped black suit and a well-kept beard, greeted the senior. Media members with tripods and cameras and laptops took up the center-bottom two rows of bleachers that were pulled out for the special occasion. Caldwell was seated in the center of a long table that sat four other athletes that were signing to play their respective sports at the next level.
He looked up from his national letter of intent in front of him and saw a sea of students, who were sharing this moment with him. To his left, there was Coach Wofford — someone who’d believed in Caldwell since he’d arrived as Northwestern’s head coach this past summer.
“I can’t say enough about how proud I am and how happy I am for him,” Wofford told The Herald on Wednesday. “Last year, he had 13 receptions. This year, we came in and we said, ‘This is the guy we can get the ball a bunch to, and he could help us.’”
Around 10:08 a.m. Wednesday, Wofford walked over, put his hands on Caldwell’s shoulders and started singing his praises — for how he’s handled the whirlwind of hype that came his way since November and for being the person and player he is.
And then, Caldwell had the floor.
Caldwell thanked his friends, teammates, coaches and families — and then, in a strikingly subtle way given the magnitude of the moment, Caldwell slipped a South Carolina beanie on his head from a box wrapped in Northwestern purple and gold, and announced his decision.
Said Caldwell of his decision to deliver his decision the way he did: “This is exactly how I wanted it.”
Wofford agreed.
“That’s him,” Wofford said. “He’s not trying to get caught up in anything. He’s a guy that comes and does his job...
“We had talked earlier about how he wanted to handle his announcement. I didn’t ever ask him (where he was going), but I knew he was going to do it the right way.”
Choosing South Carolina
Johnson, Caldwell’s brother who was also at the signing, had been through the recruiting process before.
Among the bullet points of his advice to Caldwell? Join a team with a promising quarterback.
“He just asked me what to look for in schools, you know?” Johnson told The Herald. “I just told him that it’s based on him. I didn’t want to be the one to make that decision for him. I just told him to make sure he had a quarterback wherever he was going...
“When you go there, make sure you build a great relationship with your quarterback. He’s already got the school stuff down, with the books, so I wasn’t worried about that. So me, I was just talking about the football side.”
Caldwell said he told Muschamp that he was coming to South Carolina last week, but the decision wasn’t made public until Wednesday morning.
“Every time I went up there, it felt like it was just home,” Caldwell said. “It was the right place for me. The relationship with the coaches, players — everything just led me to South Carolina.”
This story was originally published February 5, 2020 at 10:08 AM.
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