South Carolina sleeper gets SEC interest

Sometimes the recruiting process takes a while to catch up to certain players, but once it hits it hits hard. That seems to be the case with Myrtle Beach, S.C. tight end Andrew Power. The 6-foot-5 245-pound tight end has received offers only from Buffalo and some smaller schools such as The Citadel. However, now that his film has begun to circulate, a different caliber of school has come knocking.

"Florida and Florida State have called a couple times lately," Power said. "South Carolina has been talking. I've been hearing that South Carolina is gonna come on. Rutgers, I've talked to them. Stanford said you have to apply by Dec. 14 but they gave me an exception and they're looking at me."

Though it has taken a while to get the interest Power deserves, he claims he never worried that schools would come calling.

"This season nobody was really looking at me or anything," he said. "It was my first year playing tight end. I played O-Line before that but I knew I could catch, I knew I could run. I just played tackle because they needed me. I knew I was as good as anybody else out there. I knew some people were going to have problems and they'd have to find somebody. I knew the whole time I was gonna get to play for somebody."

The schools that have been talking to Power aren't just giving him lip service. Florida is ready to pay for a trip down to Gainesville where Power hopes to take his first official visit.

"I like Florida," he said. "That's the first SEC school that really hopped on me. Their coaches are nice. I talked to Florida yesterday and he said he's thinking right now about me coming down the 25th but I gotta call him back and we're gonna set it in stone."

The Scarlet Knights and the Gamecocks are two other schools that are showing heavy interest in Power and he has plenty of interest in return.

"Rutgers, I like them," he said. "It seems like a pretty nice place. I haven't been up there but I've been reading what other recruits are saying and it seems pretty cool. South Carolina is the home state school. That's who everybody around here routes for so I like them too."

Asked what a team gets when they get him, he says just what a coach wants to hear.

"Work ethic," Power said simply. "I work real hard in the weight room. I think I'm a well-rounded tight end. A lot of people think they can either catch or block. I think I can block and catch.

"I focus on the little things like finishing off blocks. I like to flip people over and mash them into the ground. I see a tight end as an offensive lineman and a wide receiver and you've got to be able to do both."