Gamecocks DE target, Class of 2018 QB among weekend visitors
Defensive end Matthew Butler of Garner, N.C., will see two of his favorites go head to head this Saturday when he visits South Carolina for the Texas A&M game.
This will be an unofficial visit, and Butler will make the trip with his mom and other members of his family.
Butler had originally planned to make an official visit to USC and may still do that down the road. If this visit goes well enough and he feels good enough about things, he said there won’t be a need for an official visit. If not, he may return for an official visit.
Texas A&M has recently emerged as a major player with Butler. Defensive coordinator John Chavis checked on him last spring and has remained in regular contact. If Butler decides not to return to USC for an official visit, he could use that for a trip to College Station.
Butler has taken official visits to Duke and Penn State, and he said he will take two other officials to Tennessee and NC State as planned. He talked with USC recruiter Lance Thompson on Sunday primarily about plans for his visit this weekend.
2018 QB to visit
Class of 2018 quarterback Brayden Hawkins (6-2, 205) of Dillon has a chance to develop into one of the state’s top prospects for the next recruiting season.
The former York quarterback passed for 2,800 yards and 19 touchdowns for the Cougars as a sophomore. So far this season for the Wildcats he’s passed for 700 yards and seven touchdowns.
He has not landed any offers yet but said USC is showing him a lot of interest and he plans to be in Columbia on Saturday for the Texas A&M game.
He’s also drawing interest from Texas A&M (Dillon native John Chavis is defensive coordinator), Purdue, UCLA, NC State, Florida, Georgia, Marshall, Michigan State, Toledo, Ohio, Duke, Wake Forest, Southern Cal, Cal, Arizona State, Florida State, Penn State, Central Florida, Virginia Tech, Georgia, Miami and others.
Hawkins visited Marshall last weekend. He plans to visit NC State on Oct. 15 and get to Texas A&M, Ohio, Purdue and Oklahoma.
Note: USC is among the offers for 2018 OL Curtis Dunlap (6-6, 340) of IMG Academy in Florida. Some of the other offers are Oklahoma, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Arkansas, LSU, Southern Cal and others.