Tuesday Evening Tidbits

Travian Robertson's visit to USC couldn't have gone any better today. Robertson was accompanied by his father and Scotland County Head Football Coach Mark Barnes. The rivals 100 defensive end showed up on campus wearing a gamecock tee shirt. Robertson met with USC Head Football Coach Steve Spurrier, Defensive Coordinator Tyrone Nix, Defensive Line Coach Brad Lawing, as well as the rest of the entire USC coaching staff.

Also on campus for the unofficial visits of Robertson and Conway High School wide receiver Junior Hemingway was USC commitment and Rivals 100 member Quintin Richardson, as well as 5 star CB Gary Gray. According to a source, both had intreraction with Robertson and Hemingway, encouraging them both to attend USC. Robertson and his father were given tons of new information about both USC and Clemson that he did not previously have. USC's coaching staff left no stone unturned in their efforts to turn Robertson back to USC, including extenting a conditional scholarship offer to fellow Scotland County High School defensive end Byron McKnight, a 6'4 215 pounder with 4.8 speed in the 40-yard dash. McKnight was impressive at USC's prospect camp last month and would have multiple scholarship offers if his academics were in order. USC will sign McKnight if and only if Robertson enrolls at USC in January of 2007.

Robertson has cut off all contact with coaches and media, and plans to make his announcement public at 5 p.m. Thursday, at the Scotland County High School library.

Conway High School WR Junior Hemingway was also at USC today on an unoffical visit. According to a source, the visit went extremely well. USC is a serious factor here. In fact, it would not surprise me a bit of Hemingway announces for USC in August. Michigan and Ohio State are the strongest competition as of today.

4 Star WR Dion Lecorn of Ocala, FL will be making an unoffical visit to USC either this weekend or next weekend. The 6'0 205 speedster is a heavy lean to USC. He feels shunned by Florida, and Cockfather Illustrated is forecasting Lecorn to commit to USC while on campus. Teammate SS Antonio Allen will accompany Lecorn on his visit and is also expected to commit to the Gamecocks.

USC is in strong position with JC defensive tackle Jonathan Williams. The 6'4 285 pound native of Augusta, GA would love to finish his college career at USC. Williams, despite an early commitment to Mississippi State, actually favors the Gamecocks. USC likes Williams, but would prefer to sing all high school defensive linemen IF they can get the right guys. In fact, according to a very reliable source, USC would prefer to sign five high school defensive ends and grow some of them into takcles. Among prospects most likely to grow into DT's are Mississippi natives Cortez Myles 6'3 1/2 255 and Markeno Lee 6'5 255. USC currently leads for both of these outstanding prospects.This will be an interesting situation to follow.

Cockfather Illustrated was prepared to forecast Cheraw High School defensive end Cliff Matthews to Georgia, but today new information has come to light that will cause us to postpone that forecast. We now believe that USC is back in the game with Matthews and will be a major factor right up until Matthews decsion.

USC will also be hosting Richmond County North Carolina linebacker Melvin Ingram. The 6'2 225 pound prospect should be in on Wednesday to make his first visit to the Columbia campus.

USC is in very strong position with Fort Dorchester DE's Carlos Dunlap, a four-star prospect, and rising junior and future four star prospect Robert Quinn. The 6'3 245 pound Quinn is on the record as saying he will play his college football at the same school as Dunlap. USC is trying to secure Dunlap's verbal commitment by Labor Day, and Cockfather Illustrated believes that USC is clearly the team to beat for Dunlap's serivices as August approaches.

Contrary to Clemson media reports by Roy Philpot and Cris Ard, USC is still very much in the game with Bamberg rising junior defensive lineman DaQuan Bowers. The 6'5 255 pound future five star prospect has built a strong relationship with USC defensive line coach Brad Lawing, and acording to a source familiar with Bowers recruitment, Lawing is not conceding Bowers to Clemson. While the deck is stacked against the Gamecocks in Bamberg, as B-E Head Football Coach Ron Duncan is pushing Bowers, in the same manner as he did Ricky Sapp to Clemson, Lawing and USC are confident. USC will work hard to get Bowers and both his parents on campus in August.

WR prospect Matt Clements is another player to keep an eye on. Shold he make it to USc's campus prior to the beginning of football season, a commitment to the Gamecocks is likely. The 6'1 185 sprinter with 4.34 speed in the 40-yard dash has been favoring USC for some time. USC assistant coaches Robert Gillespie and Steve Spurrier, Jr. have done an excellent in recruiting Clements, who holds offers from Auburn and Clemson, among others, and could be elevated to four-star staus by Rivals.com later in his senior season.

Elite 11 QB Stephen Garcia and his family will be in Columbia on August 5th for an unoffical visit. USc is the leader here and Cockfather Illustrated is ready to forecast Garica to USC. It is unclear when Garcia will make his deision public, but Steve Spurrier and David Reaves will push for Garcia's commitment during the visit to get the top flight QB on board and bolster their recruiting momentum.

Stay tuned to Cockfather Illustrated, as we hope to have an update on the Travian Robertson situation later tonight.