by Marty Valania
Eastern Christian Academy (Elkton Md.) coach Dwayne Thomas was recently talking with USC coach Lane Kiffin about two of Thomas’ players – but it wasn’t about USC commits Kenny Bigelow and David Sills. Instead conversation was about Bigelow and Khaliel Rodgers, who is undecided.
Bigelow appears to be a secure USC verbal but Kiffin just wanted to be sure and asked Thomas if Rodgers were to pick Auburn was there any chance that Bigelow would flip. Thomas told him that if Rodgers gets an offer from USC, then there was a better chance of Bigelow flipping Rodgers.
Bigelow, a 6-3, 295-pound, five-star defensive end, is ranked as the sixth overall recruit in the country by Rivals and is very tight with Rodgers. Rodgers, a 6-3, 300-pound, four-star offensive guard has offers from 15 schools including Auburn, Boston College, Connecticut, Hawaii, Houston, Iowa, Ole Miss, Ohio State, Purdue, Rutgers, Temple, UCLA, West Virginia, Western Kentucky – and now USC.
Rodgers, who Thomas feels very strongly will play in the NFL one day, still has not made any verbal commitment. He did, however, note on his Twitter account that USC had offered.
“USC has a lot of advantages,” said Thomas, who knows that both Bigelow and Sills (2015 QB prospect) will be attending the school. “They’re in Los Angeles.There is no NFL team. They have a great fan base. They have great academics. It’s just a great school.”
Thomas knows what he’s talking about when it comes to recruiting. He was on the recruiting trails for many years as an assistant coach at Tennessee State. He also has 20 players on his current roster that have scholarship offers.
Auburn, though, has its own connections with Jahmere Irvin-Sills, also from Eastern Christian Academy, already having verballed to Auburn.
Irvin-Sills, is a 5-10, 175 pound, three-star cornerback, who verbally committed to Auburn last month.
It will be interesting to see which school Rodgers ends up choosing, but it certainly wouldn’t be surprising if he joins high school teammates somewhere.
For more information about eastern recruiting, follow @EastRecruiting on Twitter or email marty.valania@easternfootballrecruiting.com.
