Malik Newton keeping South Carolina in mind after summer trip

Newton and his Lake Taylor squad were in Columbia for the team passing camp. They fell a bit short, but Newton still believed it was a positive experience.

"We did good to just have sophomores and juniors on the team," he explained. "We didn’t make the playoffs, but it was a ‘win this game, we make the playoffs’ type situation."

Aside from a campus tour that Newton said he enjoyed, he also was able to catch up with a few members of the Gamecock coaching staff.

The second day of the camp they gave us a tour of the facility and I talked to the running backs coach, Coach Muschamp, and Coach Krantz.

What does Newton think of Krantz, who's his area recruiter?

"He’s a really cool coach, every cool. I call him every week to talk to him and I can tell that the players like him, too."

Clemson, Maryland, Nebraska, Penn State, Pittsburgh, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Virginia, and Virginia Tech have all extended offers to Newton, who hopes to be a dual-sport athlete at the next level.

"I want to decide after this year coming up, after junior year," he said. "I want a school that’s going to let me do both (baseball and football) and that has good academics."

The Virginia product has had conversations with multiple staffs about being able to play both sports.

"All the schools that I went to, I asked and they said I could do both. They either said I could do both or I would sit out a year and keep my grades up with just one sport, then do both."

Publicly, there are no front runners for Newton.

"Not right now. I’m just enjoying it, loving all the schools talking to me," he said.