Recruiting roundup: Former instate LB eyes visit to USC, seeks offer

Linebacker and Orangeburg native Donta Evans is back in South Carolina this week from his new home in Lawrenceville, Ga., and plans to drop in at South Carolina while he is close by.

He planned to contact recruiter GA Mangus to see when it would be convenient for him to visit. The Gamecocks have been showing interest in Evans but have not yet offered. Evans holds several big-time offers and would love to add the Gamecocks to that list.

“Coach Mangus, he’s a go with the offer but the defensive staff has to sign off on it, so I’m just waiting on that,” Evans said, adding that he’s not having much contact with Clemson at this point. “The new defensive coordinator came by with Coach Mangus during spring.”

Last season at Lake Marion High, Evans registered 147 tackles with 32 for loss and 8 sacks.

Evans has added recent offers from Missouri, Indiana, The Citadel, Vanderbilt, Charlotte and Iowa. He also has offers from Auburn, Louisville, Kentucky, NC State, North Carolina, Wake Forest and Illinois.

“A lot of them are coming at me pretty hard,” he said. “NC State and North Carolina, Auburn, and also Indiana and Vandy, those are some I keep in contact with very well and building a relationship with those coaches is a big deal right now.”

▪ WR Brad Hawkins of Camden, N.J., released his 15 schools Thursday night. In no order they are USC, Arizona State, Michigan, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, NC State, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Rutgers, Tennessee, Temple, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

▪ LB Kash Daniel of Paintsville, Ky. to announce Aug. 13. USC is one of his offers.

▪ USC offered DE Jachai Polite of Daytona Beach, Fla.

▪ USC offered OL Marcus Tatum of Daytona Beach, Fla.

▪ TE Jordan Giberti of Orlando is offered by Western Kentucky and Florida International. He’s a USC target.

▪ DL Naquan Jones of Evanston, Ill., is down to USC, Michigan State and Florida. He plans to announce June 5, though he told the “Griff & Grinz Show” in East Lansing the announcement could come earlier.

▪ USC offered LB Aaron Hansford of Washington, D.C.

▪ USC offered OL Johncarlo Valentin of Philadelphia.

▪ 2017 WR Daquon Green of Tampa landed an offer from USC.

▪ USC offers 2017 OL Blake Vinson of Ocala, Fla.