In-demand tight end recruit, Florida legacy hearing from South Carolina’s staff

By Phil Kornblut

April 30, 2019 5:42 PM

One of the newest offers by South Carolina coach Will Muschamp is tight end Jonathan Odom (6-foot-6, 240 pounds) of Tampa. The nationally regarded recruit has heavy Florida ties. His father played on the offensive line for the Gators as well as for Tampa Bay, and his mother played basketball at Florida. So, it would appear to be an uphill battle for anyone to turn him from the Gators, but Muschamp and many others are giving it a shot.

“I’ve been hearing from them for awhile now, probably a couple of months,” Odom said. “One of my friends I met on my OV to LSU, Tank Bigsby, was kind of recruiting me towards South Carolina. I have been developing a relationship with them.”

Odom has not yet visited USC but he watched them practice at his high school prior to the 2018 Outback Bowl in Tampa.

“I’ll definitely will look into getting up there and visiting and see how this stuff plays through,” Odom said. “I’m definitely going to try to get up there.”

He said Gamecock tight ends coach Bobby Bentley plans to get down to see him this spring.

Odom has taken official visits to LSU and Florida. He has one scheduled for Purdue on June 15. This weekend he will take an unofficial visit to Ohio State.

Many schools are now coming through to watch Odom in spring practice and Clemson will be down this week to check him out.

“I’ve been in contact with Coach Pearman,” he said. “He’s going to be down Wednesday or Thursday this week. They haven’t offered. My only question is are they thinking of using the tight end more coming up. They didn’t use the tight end very much last year. I think their leading receiving tight end had six catches. That’s one of my questions for them.”

Odom said he doesn’t have a favorite right now but the three schools with the official visits thus far are up on his list. Some other offers are Alabama, West Virginia, Florida State, Louisville, Iowa, Nebraska, Miami, Penn State and Vanderbilt.

Odom plans to make his decision before his season with late July being the earliest date.

Notes:

▪ South Carolina 2021 offensive line target Micah Morris of Kingsland, Georgia was offered by LSU. He visited USC last weekend.

▪ Gamecocks recruiters Thomas Brown and Bryan McClendon were at Callaway High School in Hogansville, Georgia Monday to see running back Tank Bigsby coming off his unofficial visit with the Gamecocks over the weekend. Bigsby has taken an official visit to LSU. Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Georgia and Tennessee also are involved.

▪ Former USC forward Felipe Haase is transferring to Mercer. His former high school coach is now an assistants with the Bears.

▪ Gamecocks wide receiver commitment Da’Quon Stewart of Huntersville, North Carolina was offered by Georgia Tech.

▪ South Carolina target Clinton, N.C. linebacker Mohamed Kaba plans to announce his commitment May 10. He also has N.C. State, Tennessee, North Carolina and Duke on his short list. He last visited the Gamecocks on March 30.

Notes:

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