Newly-offered forward talks South Carolina, recruitment

When Jaret Valencia picked up the phone, he just assumed it was South Carolina calling to check up on him.

Instead, it was the Gamecock coaching staff delivering good news about offering the

“I was literally in a restaurant…He told me he’s going to offer me and we want you to come here and visit the school,” Valencia said. “It was cool. I got the phone thinking he was just calling to check on me and he offered me. So it was cool.”

Valencia, who is originally from Colombia, said he jumped on the Gamecocks’ radar a few years ago and the staff began showing interest more recently after he played an AAU tournament in South Carolina.

Will Bailey is the assistant taking the lead on 6-foot-8 power forward’s recruitment with the two talking “three or four days a week.”

“He’s calling me, texting me,” Valencia said. “He’s a guy that likes to have fun. I think he’s cool.”

The Gamecocks are trying to get him out to Columbia and on campus for a visit once things resume over the summer and continue throughout the season.

Valencia said he doesn’t know yet what schools he wants to visit, and he might begin thinking about that closer to the start of college basketball season this fall.

He picked up an offer recently from Rutgers and Marquette but said Oregon is beginning to show interest as well.

“They like I can play every position, can guard every position. I can do a little bit of everything. I think that’s what they like,” he said about what South Carolina likes about his game. “I can do a little bit of everything but I have to keep working. If I had to describe my game in one word it’d be athletic.”

Valencia came to the United States and began playing at a few other schools before ending up at Legacy the School of Sport Sciences in Houston, Texas.

He’s enjoyed it so far and seen an uptick in his recruitment since enrolling there.

“I decided to tell coach I wanted to come here,” he said. “I’ve come here and my game’s been better. I’ve gotten more offers, like South Carolina. Texas feels like home. It’s a good place to improve my game.”