Tony Annan has coached his first game at South Carolina now, navigating the Gamecocks to a 4-3 exhibition win over Anderson earlier this week. Next week, the real thing starts.

South Carolina has one more exhibition Saturday at James Madison before the regular season opener next Thursday at 7 p.m., the first game that will go on Annan's head coach record.

Since taking the job this offseason Annan's been hitting the recruiting trail hard and spent some time in a one-on-one interview with GamecockCentral discussing recruiting and what he's experienced on the trail.

GC: How has recruiting gone since taking the job?

TA: “I’m inundated with emails from people who want to come to the school, which is exciting. We threw together some ID camps for the end of (July) and they sold out…All indications say there’s interest. People are seeing a really big program, big brand. From that aspect, I’m really excited about.”

Also see: Availability notes from Wednesday's defensive player pressers

GC: What's the response been like on the recruiting trail since taking the job?

TA: “They want to be a part of the new identity, be a part of something new that they can be involved in building. I don’t want to say it was a rebuild because the program wasn’t on its backside. We’re just taking it off in a different direction. It’s no disrespect to anybody that came before me.

I want to continue a lot of the traditions that came before at this school. It’s not throwing the baby out with the bathwater. It’s taking it in a different direction, and people want to be a part of that. People want to be a part of it and be a part of success. I think recruitment-wise, our pitch is to come and be part of something new. Come be part of something exciting. Look at our social media presence? It’s amazing. Look at all the guys on social media. I don’t have to do a lot of marketing. Those guys are doing it for me, and the excitement is being built around the program.

Hopefully we can get off to a good start and to a good season and it will only intensify what we’re doing and people will take notice and want to be a part of it. The flipside is they’re coming to a situation that’s uncommon in college soccer: a professional coach coming from a professional club coming to a college soccer team. That’s created a bit of buzz as well. You have to use what you can to get the players in because recruiting is the number one priority.”

GC: What's the key to being a good recruiter?

TA: “Being authentic is one of the biggest things and under-promising but over delivering. There are a lot of guys out there who would promise the world and not deliver it just to get the guy in the door. I don’t do that. I give them what I do, as much as I do, and I hopefully deliver more than I ever promised. Being authentic to the player, to the family, is important. It’s easy to try and be somebody you’re not.

I found out quickly if you try and tell a lie or sell someone you’re not and talk the way you don’t normally talk, someone will always be watching and cut you out. For me, recruitment is about being honest, about being straightforward, about being authentic. It’s about laying out your strategic plan for the player and program and hopefully that fits what they want too. It’s an easy trap to fall into to say a few exaggerated things and tell a few little white lies here and there to get the guy in the door, but that will always catch you. For me it’s about being authentic, truthful and honest.”

Also see: Recruiting notes on two priority football targets

GC: You consistently get large fan turnout at games, how are you able to sell that to recruits and future players?

TA: "Who doesn’t want to play in front of 5,000 people? You come from playing academy soccer where you get a couple hundred sometimes to playing in front of 5,000? It’s as good as being a pro. You have the facilities here that match any pro league in the country, and Europe. You have a lovely stadium where we’re going to make it even more intimate, more connected. I have some really good ideas for that.

The upgrades the university is going to make to the stadium are making it an even better environment. We’re going to push for that. It’s really important to prepare kids to be a professional where they’re playing in front of four or five thousand fans as many times as we can. Hopefully we put a product on the pitch where fans want to say and watch the game and come back out and can’t wait for the next game."

GC: What do you look for when you and your staff are out evaluating players?

TA: “It’s easy to walk up to a field and spot the best player. My mom can do that. She could see who the best player on the pitch is, right? That’s easy. Scouting and recruitment is finding the player you want that you need that has the profile, mindset, intrinsic motivation and all the markers you want and forecasting if he can do those things within your setup, within your team. Do they have what it takes to be an academic but be an athlete? That’s very, very important.

"We’ve sat down and said, ‘What do we need where and when do we need it?’ that’s what we’ve established. So when we go out on the road we’re not going be watching everybody. We’re watching what we need…Don’t get me wrong. You’re not going to ignore Ronaldo. If Ronaldo wants to come here we’ll have him, but it’s important to find what you need rather than just a blanket, ‘Let’s see what’s out there.’ Have a plan, have some direction and execute it. See it, that’s the other part of it.”

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