Daley: It was a blessing

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Columbia (S.C.) Ridge View offensive tackle Dennis Daley first caught the eye of South Carolina offensive line coach Shawn Elliott at the Gamecocks' OL/DL camp this past summer.

But for much of the recruiting process, it didn't look like the 6-foot-6, 284-pound Shrine Bowl participant would ever have the opportunity to play for his hometown team.

Recently, that changed very quickly, and Daley jumped at the opportunity.

"He just popped up at the school one day (recently), but I wasn't there that day," Daley said of Elliott. "So he called me back the next week and said he was going to show up at the [high] school. He told me about (South Carolina) and told me about the little sign-and-place deal and I just committed on that day. This was on January 23."

"I just feel like it was a blessing," Daley added. "It just came to me at the perfect time, at the right moment. I like the type of football that they play. They play at a high level. They perform every game and they always play strong."

While Daley won't have the opportunity to immediately enroll at South Carolina, he does now have a plan in place. He'll first spend some time at Georgia Military College before one day transferring to South Carolina where he'll play for Elliott.

"He seemed like a laid back dude, but when it's time to get serious, it's time to get serious, and it's strictly business," Daley said. "And that's the type of coach that I need to be playing for."

Daley, who was one of the top performers at the Shine Bowl, recently visited GMC to get a feel for the school and what it's going to take to get to South Carolina.

Click "I just made that trip (Thursday). That was a good experience too," Daley said. "It was way different than I expected and it changed my whole perspective on the whole college, and that's a good thing."Here to view this Link.

"I'm trying to do what I've got to do and get out as fast as possible," Daley added. "I'm trying to enroll at GMC at the earliest date, so I'm going to start summer school on June 8. I've just got to do what I've got to do and get out fast. They said I could be a mid-year graduate (by January 2017) that way I could be playing for USC."

While Daley has big upside, he's only been playing football for three years.

"I started playing football my sophomore year of high school and I really didn't like football my first year playing," Daley said. "I started liking football my junior year when I got the opportunity to start for varsity. That's when I really started getting the idea of football and really started to love football and football really became my thing then."

Daley received early interest from Florida State. East Carolina was by his school to offer the same sign-and-place deal that South Carolina offered on the day before Elliot came by.

But once the opportunity to one day play for South Carolina came up, it was a no-brainer for Daley.

"Playing for USC will probably be the biggest thing for me," Daley said. "My whole decision to play for USC was based on my mom too. My sister attends USC right now, she's a senior. Ever since I started playing football, my mom was stressing to me how she wanted me to play for USC. She said, 'I don't want you to go to any other school; I want you to play for USC.' And she wants me to stay closer to home, and that was my plan, anyway, to say closer to home.

"Me making that decision was probably the biggest decision of my life, to see my mom so happy."

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