Top QB target from California preps for first recruiting visit to South Carolina
South Carolina coaches Shane Beamer and Mike Shula have taken a strong liking to quarterback Brady Smigiel of Newbury Park, California. It’s probably not a reach to say Smigiel, a one-time Florida State commitment, is their top quarterback target at this point.
The Gamecocks have also been recruiting their former commitment Landon Duckworth of Jackson, Alabama, but he told On3 Sports that right now he favors Ole Miss.
Smigiel (6-4, 220) has not publicly proclaimed a favorite, but South Carolina is one of the few schools he’s considering. He and his father Joe, who is also his coach, will visit USC for the first time starting Thursday and will stay in Columbia through Saturday night before driving back to Charlotte for their flight back home.
Beamer and Shula have laid the groundwork to show Smigiel just how much he’s wanted in their program.
“The biggest thing is the interaction Brady has had with Coach Beamer and Coach Shula,” Coach Smigiel said. “He’s building a relationship with them. He’s never been out to South Carolina, so that’s part of the process and we’re excited to come out there and check it out.”
The Gamecocks will be holding another of their spring practices on Friday and that will make up a critical part of the visit for Smigiel.
“He wants to see practice and how the players interact,” his dad said. “The culture that’s there. One thing that’s attracted us to Coach Beamer is the fact that he holds everybody accountable. He has a specific way of doing team-building lessons. You see those all over the Internet. When he was out here, he talked about those. A good locker room goes a lot farther than people think. In today’s world with NIL, that’s even more important, and it’s even a little bit more tricky. Watching him doing that will be exciting for us to see.”
The presence of Shula on the staff as QBs coach and offensive coordinator is a key component that makes the Gamecocks attractive to Smigiel.
“Coach Shula has been at every level, and he (Brady) wants to get developed,” Coach Smigiel said. “It’s not something that he things he can go in and be the starter day one. He wants to be developed and learn, and be ready to play when he has the opportunity to compete.”
At one point it was thought the Smigiels would visit some other schools while on this trip to the Southeast. That won’t be the case. They have also visited Washington and have been to UCLA several times. They are going to Michigan for the spring game April 19.
Smigiel has also set official visits to Michigan on June 6 and to Washington for June 20.