Soph. to visit Gamecocks

There are only a handful of sophomores nationwide that have double-digit offers. Jalen Christian is one of them. The athlete from Damascus (Md.) has offers from schools like Ohio State, Oklahoma, North Carolina and others. This weekend, Christian is visiting the school that was the first to offer him.

"I'm taking this visit this early because South Carolina was my first offer," said the 5-foot-10, 160-pound Christian. "They were my first offer last January and of course I was really surprised and happy. They're in the SEC and are a powerhouse team and I'm willing to show the same interest in them.

"I'm going to learn more about them, the campus and education," he said. "Pretty much I want to see what the University of South Carolina is about. Once you commit that's your home for the next four years and you don't want to go to a school that you don't feel at home. I'm going there to see if I feel at home, see how the football team is and look into the education. I'll probably commit to the university that makes me feel at home."

A sophomore with ten offers is sure to be hearing from plenty of schools.

"My latest offer was from Pittsburgh a few weeks ago," Christian said. "I got a text message from my coach saying that they offered. A lot of schools have come through. The main ones that are recruiting me pretty hard are Virginia Tech, South Carolina and Ohio State. I say this because we keep in contact a lot. They message me and call my coach trying to get in touch with me. A lot of schools have come through but those are probably the three that have kept in contact with me."

The Maryland Terps are strangely absent from Christian's offer sheet but he is not worried.

"I look at guys on Rivals and usually you see that his first offer is from their local school and I thought they would offer," he said. "I realized that a lot of other guys from the state of Maryland don't have an offer from Maryland. I'm not complaining about it. There are a lot of other schools out there that want me and if they offer me they will get treated like all the other schools."

Christian is also a track athlete, running the 100, 4X1, 4X2 and long jump.