Four-star QB gets first look at South Carolina’s campus in tour of Southeast
Four-star quarterback Braden Davis of Middletown, Delaware is closing in on his college decision. In doing so, he hit the road this week to check out some possibilities.
On Thursday he was at Duke and N.C. State. On Friday he checked out South Carolina. He goes to Georgia Tech on Saturday.
The Gamecocks are newcomers to his recruiting scene and have not offered, but Davis (6-5 184) was interested enough to make the visit on his own.
“Everything was really nice,” Davis said. “Today was the first time I’ve very been to South Carolina. I got to check out that I wanted to see, the academic buildings, all the dorms, the football facilities, see the stadium, stuff like that. It was a great visit. Campus-wise, it was really just South Carolina’s flavor and a regular college campus.”
Pete Lembo is the area recruiter for Davis, so he’s heard from him and quarterbacks coach Marcus Satterfield. They are still in the get-to-know-you phase of the process.
“We’ve only been in contact for a short while,” Davis said. “We haven’t really talked to much recruiting other than building a relationship, just getting to know each other, things like that. We’ll see (on an offer). I believe so — hopefully.”
The NCAA-imposed dead period is in place through the end of May. It’s expected official visits will be allowed after that. But by then, Davis expects to have made his decision.
“Hopefully I’ll be able to make a decision before the dead period is over with,” Davis said. “I just wanted to get out on the road and check out a couple of campuses so I could take a step closer to narrowing things down and eventually making the decision. We’re taking steps in that direction.”
Davis has offers from Duke, N.C. State, Maryland, Washington State, Alabama, Florida, Oregon, Penn State, Virginia Tech, Auburn, LSU, Georgia, Tennessee, West Virginia, Michigan State, Stanford, Florida State and Arkansas.
Davis moved to Florida for the 2020 season but suffered an ankle injury in the third game and returned to Delaware. In three games he was 21 of 47 for 261 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions, and he rushed for 44 yards and two scores.
His father is Antone Davis, former All-American offensive lineman at Tennessee and the No. 8 pick in the 1991 NFL Draft.
Davis is rated a 4-star prospect in the 247Sports Composite and ranked the No. 6 dual-threat quarterback in the 2022 class.
Other Gamecock recruiting notes
▪ USC is in the top 12 with 4-star DE Justice Finkley (6-2 255) of Trussville, Alabama. The others are LSU, Oregon, Michigan, Alabama, Florida, Colorado, Southern Cal, Kentucky, Texas, Stanford and UCF. He’s the No. 7 strongside DE, with 82 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and 4 sacks last season.
▪ USC WR target Jayden Gibson of Winter Garden, Florida has set official visits to Florida for June 4, Miami June 10 and Baylor June 18.