Baby steps

Sporting News, The, Feb 15, 1999 by Michael Smith

Lou Holtz and Tommy Bowden hope some initial recruiting success will translate into victories at South Carolina and Clemson

Derek Watson walked to his news conference at Palmetto High School with a University of Tennessee cap in one pocket and a University of South Carolina cap in the other.

He had committed his football future to both schools at one time or another, and his indecision on national signing day last week appeared just as evident.

Let's see. Go play for the defending national champions or join a 1-10 Gamecocks squad that hasn't won an SEC game since October 25, 1997. Hmmm...

When Watson sat down at the microphone, he kept hearing the words of Gamecocks coach Lou Holtz. "He gave me some great advice," Watson says. "He said, `You're Mr. Football in the state of South Carolina. It's time to represent your state and show what people from South Carolina can do.'"

Watson, a tailback, pulled out the Gamecocks cap and signed with South Carolina. Somebody was listening after all. But Holtz had to be wondering. Until he struck late with Watson, South Carolina's class was feeling the effects of its late start. It was losing the battle of in-state recruits to Clemson and Tommy Bowden, its new coach.

It's difficult to judge how much impact Holtz and Bowden had as they attacked recruiting, their first objective as new coaches in the state. Neither team's class was ranked among the top 25 nationally by the various recruiting gurus--with the exception of Tom Lemming, a Chicago-based analyst who ranked the Gamecocks 20th.

"How good are they?" Holtz says. "It's like trying to tell if a baby is a lawyer or a doctor? I don't know. It's a baby. We're all happy."

Holtz and Bowden built their reputations on turning around football programs. Their greatest challenges, however, might be ahead of them. Clemson and South Carolina combined for only four victories last season as the state of affairs in football-proud South Carolina plummeted to new depths. Never had the two teams combined for so few wins entering the heated season finale, which Clemson won.

If recruiting is indeed the lifeline to any college football program, there was no more appropriate starting point. Bowden got the Tigers off to a quicker start because his staff was in place sooner. Plus, he hired Brad Scott, the man Holtz replaced and a buddy of Bowden's from their old Florida State days. Bowden also retained two members of Tommy West's old staff, Reggie Herring and Rick Stockstill, giving Clemson a core of assistants familiar with in-state recruits. They immediately blanketed their home state while Holtz was still trying to hire assistants.

Of Clemson's class of 24, half came from South Carolina and six were among the state's top 15 prospects. Nine of the Gamecocks' 23 signees are from in-state.

"From the day I took this job, I said we've got to make South Carolina the base of our recruiting," Bowden says. "It says a lot about this school that we went 3-8 and lost to Wake Forest and Duke and we still got some pretty high-profile guys."

Bowden and Scott teamed on one especially influential in-home visit. They spun the down-home charm on one of the state's most coveted prospects, defensive back Brian Mance from Manning. Mance had just visited Ohio State and South Carolina when the Clemson coaches came to his house. By the time they were through, Mance was ready to play for the Tigers. He announced his decision the next afternoon. "Coach Bowden knows how to turn programs around," Mance says. "It's time for Clemson to get back to where it was."

Holtz was more methodical. Two members of his staff, including recruiting coordinator Dave Roberts, weren't hired until the first week of January. The Gamecocks might have suffered early in the recruiting season because of it. Before they attracted Watson, the Gamecocks' highest-rated instate recruit was Trevin Smith, the No. 8 prospect in South Carolina, according to SuperPrep magazine.

But in the final days of the signing period, South Carolina bagged Watson and Andrew Pinnock, the Connecticut player of the year and the No. 2-rated fullback in the nation by SuperPrep, giving the Gamecocks a future backfield that had Holtz reminiscing about his days at Notre Dame with Jerome Bettis and Ricky Watters.

"I think in particular," Holtz says, "Derek Watson sent a message to people: `Hey, I could have gone anywhere in the country and I chose to come to South Carolina.' That did wonders for our staff, for our players, for the state."

South Carolina and Clemson got their licks in, but four of the state's top six prospects--Kevin Breedlove (Georgia), Albert Haynesworth (Tennessee), Terriea Smalls (Tennessee) and Durell Robinson (Georgia)--got away.

They serve as reminders to Bowden and Holtz that the doors leading out of the state will remain open as long as wins are as hard to come by as they were last season.

Michael Smith covers South Carolina and SEC football for The (Columbia, S.C.) State.