A new recruiting pipeline? Gamecocks offer defensive end from Delaware

The state of Delaware has become a popular recruiting spot for the South Carolina staff.

The Gamecocks already have two Delaware products — tailback MarShawn Lloyd and linebacker Debo Williams — on the roster, and they are in hot pursuit of quarterback Braden Davis of Middletown. On Monday, they offered Davis’ teammate defensive end Tomiwa Durojaiye.

“Coach Taylor Edwards sent me a text and told me they were offering, and I called him to talk about the offer, and he just wanted me to get up on campus,” the 6-foot-5, 255-pound Durojaiye said. “It all happened so fast. Coach (Jimmy) Lindsey followed me on Twitter today (Monday). We exchanged some texts to set up some virtual visits. They are getting ready to finish spring ball, so once that finishes, I’ll set up a virtual visit with coach (Shane) Beamer and the rest of the staff.”

This is a case where both sides are still learning a lot about each other. The Gamecocks have only seen Durojaiye on film. This past season, in eight games, he had 50 tackles with 16.5 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks. What he hopes they took away from his film: his strength and versatility along the defensive line.

“I’m at 250 pounds right now and a lot of schools see that I can carry 270 or 280 pounds,” Durojaiye said. “Just being a guy that can play three technique and five technique for them — that’s kind of the player I want to be. I want to be versatile. I feel like when you’re versatile, you force schools to have to game plan for you. That’s what I look forward to doing at the next level.”

As the Gamecocks are doing their due diligence on Durojaiye, he’s also doing his homework on Gamecock football.

“I’m still learning about team history, but I know a lot about players,” he said. “Jadeveon Clowney, Stephon Gilmore, Jaycee Horn. I’m also familiar with Jordan Burch and Zacch Pickens. From my area, I’m familiar with MarShawn Lloyd and Debo Williams. I don’t know them personally, but I know of them, and they know of me.”

Later this week, Durojaiye and his family are hitting the road to check out some of his schools of interest. He plans to be at USC next Monday. Along the way they also will visit Duke, N.C. State, Georgia Tech and Virginia. He also has offers from Iowa, Maryland, West Virginia and Michigan, among others.

“Me just trying to get more of an academic feel,” he said. “I know I can’t meet the coaches, but just try and check out the campus and things like that. I’m in position to be an early enrollee. I’m interested in business and engineering.”

Durojaiye’s teammate Davis appears to be USC’s No. 1 quarterback target for the 2022 class at this point, and there seems to be a lot of interest by him in the Gamecocks. The two have talked about the possibility of being in Columbia together.

“Out of his top seven schools, four of them have offered me, including South Carolina. West Virginia, Duke and Georgia Tech” are the others, he said. “We’ve talked about it. It’s definitely something that excites us. We’re pretty close. That’s my guy. We’ve talked about playing together in school, but I wouldn’t look at it as a package deal because he’s an offensive prospect and I play defense. His relationship with an offensive staff my be different than with a defensive staff. I know we both like South Carolina, but I wouldn’t call it a package deal.”

Durojaiye is rated a three-star by 247Sports and is ranked the No. 4 prospect in Delaware. He has set official visits with Georgia Tech for June 18 and Arkansas June 25. He’d also like to set an official visit with the Gamecocks.

▪ Basketball note: USC offered 2023 5-11 PG Dalen Davis of Chicago. He also has offers from Kansas, Illinois, Nebraska and DePaul.