Say no to orange: Why teammates Mazeo Bennett, Blake Franks chose South Carolina
For years, the measure of a great South Carolina season came down to the “Orange Crush.” How the Gamecocks fared against Florida, Tennessee and Clemson to finish its season determined if the offseason was filled with optimism or dread.
In 2023, the “Orange Crush” — though not in order — became a tsunami that wiped out South Carolina. Florida, Tennessee and Clemson all beat South Carolina this season and kept the Gamecocks out of a bowl game for the first time under coach Shane Beamer.
But, on the recruiting trail, Beamer and Co. have been grabbing win after win against the “Orange Crush.” Last week, the Gamecocks beat out Florida for Pitt transfer defensive end Deandre Jules. And inside the Greenville High auditorium on Tuesday afternoon stood perhaps South Carolina’s two biggest recruiting victories against the big, bad OC.
Greenville wide receiver Mazeo Bennett and offensive lineman Blake Franks, two of the top prospects in South Carolina, were on the verge of wearing orange (Bennett with Tennessee and Franks with Clemson) before South Carolina reeled them to Columbia.
Bennett, the 6-foot, 180-pound four-star prospect, is an all-business wide receiver with the type of versatility that reminds Greenville football coach Greg Porter of Gamecock great Deebo Samuel. Meanwhile, Franks is a three-star Hulk (6-5, 320 pounds) with long arms and the ability to move all over the offensive line.
The pair were confirmed by South Carolina as signees Wednesday morning shortly after the Early Signing Period opened.
Bennett was in the same auditorium 429 days ago and sat behind a table of seven hats before he chose the bright orange one and committed to Tennessee.
He kept his pledge with the Volunteers for just over a month before he decided to open his recruitment back up.
“God will show you different stuff in different ways. God proved to me that Tennessee wasn’t where I needed to be,” Bennett said on Tuesday. “The series of events that happened after I decommitted, it all led to me being a Gamecock.”
Bennett flipped his commitment to USC on Feb. 3 and showed up to Greenville’s signing ceremony Tuesday donning a white South Carolina polo. He’ll wake up at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, he said, and DocuSign his letter of intent to officially become a part of the Gamecocks 2023 recruiting class.
“(The USC coaches) really stayed on him,” said Bennett’s father, Mazeo Sr. “(WRs coach Justin) Stepp and those guys, they never stopped recruiting him, and that was a big check for us. When we were getting calls from coach Beamer every day, my wife was pretty sold on South Carolina.”
It, too, took a while for South Carolina to win over Franks, who will also wake up around sunrise on Wednesday to submit his letter of intent to the Gamecocks’ athletic department.
Franks, like so many who came before him at Greenville High, was never allured much by South Carolina. The goal was always Clemson. His grandfather was a Clemson professor. His town is littered with Tigers gear. The dream was to touch Howard’s Rock and sprint down The Hill.
“We already have four people already down at Clemson,” Porter said. “We were developing a culture of our kids and our program going to Clemson. We hadn’t had anyone, at the time, verbally committed to South Carolina. It was new to us.”
It was also new to Franks. At first, he avoided the Gamecocks like an ex-girlfriend. He tried to keep his loyalty to the Tigers, but the USC coaches kept texting and calling and calling some more.
“They were just constantly, to me, trying to be a presence. I think they had to take extra measures,” said Franks’ mother, L’Adair Sterling, an assistant principal at Greenville HS. “They went hard at him and it made him feel like he was really, really wanted.”
The Gamecocks also talked to Franks about the most random things. Ask Franks about himself and he’ll give you a sentence. Ask Franks about his Marvel theories, like if Thor is going to make an appearance in the TV show “Loki,” and he’ll talk your ear off. South Carolina talked to him about what he wanted to talk about. They kept it personal and he felt at home.
“I could commit to Clemson and be happy still,” Franks said. “But I would always think about South Carolina — like, that’s a great South Carolina staff and I wanted to be a part of it.”
So did most of the top players in the Palmetto State. According to the 247 Sports Composite Rankings, the Gamecocks are expected to sign five of the seven highest-rated players from the state, including the top two recruits from the Upstate: Bennett (No. 4 in S.C.) and Franks (No. 7).
“The best players in South Carolina go to South Carolina,” said Bennett. “I don’t wanna go to another state and make another school great. I wanna do the same thing I’d do at another school at my hometown school.”
This story was originally published December 20, 2023 at 7:00 AM.
