Cook set to visit Gamecocks

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Winter recruiting is always full of new names and interest, and one of the hottest names in the country right now is Huntington Prep's Levi Cook. The 6-foot-10, 300-pound senior center has leveraged a successful high school season and a slimmer body to the uptick in his recruitment.

"The high school season's going real well. We're 21-2 I think, and I'm playing really good personally. We're just hungry for a national championship," he told Rivals.com. "I've been working on getting in better shape and my conditioning. I've also been working on improving my skills in every area. I'm starting to get in shape and starting to feel better. Since I came here, I've lost 25-30 pounds. My target weight is about 260 or 270."

Several high-major schools have been calling and visiting recently.

"Michigan's involved now, and I'm sure some more new schools will get involved," Cook said. "Pitt, Virginia Tech, Drexel, and have all offered me. App. State and East Tennessee State have offered and are recruiting me hard too."

Cook told Rivals that Pitt, South Carolina, and Virginia Tech were the schools recruiting him the hardest. The three-star visited Virginia Tech on Thursday to watch them play Duke. He'll be in Columbia this weekend for an official visit, and is working on setting up other visits, as well.

"I'm taking an official visit to South Carolina this weekend," Cook said. "I'm also trying to set up visits to Pitt and Missouri," he said.

Cook would fit in nicely with the Gamecocks, as they need size badly. The official roster only lists Laimonas Chatkevicius and Demetrius Henry as players who stand at least 6-foot-9, and neither are averaging double digit points per game. Cook is a wide-bodied skilled center with a nice touch who uses his size well to create space and initiate contact; surely he could contribute offensively on the low block as a freshman.

He noted that his relationship with the program's coaches will be a key factor in his recruitment, but for now, he's just focused on winning a national championship with Huntington Prep.

"I haven't really thought about when I want to make a decision," Cook said. "I'm just really focused on the season."