Trent Seaborn and his family pulled up to the South Carolina football facility at 8 a.m. Saturday and discovered an empty parking lot.
It made no sense. This is peak recruiting season. Junior days are in full swing all across the country. Heck, the Gamecocks hosted dozens of kids just a week earlier. Then the Seaborns saw USC coach Shane Beamer on the balcony, welcoming them to come on inside.
There, South Carolina had gathered a number of assistant coaches, analysts, an academic advisor and strength coaches just for Seaborn’s visit.
I thought there’s a junior day going on,” Seaborn asked offensive coordinator Mike Shula.
“Yeah,” Shula responded. “The junior day is for you.”
Though it was a two-day unofficial visit where the Seaborn family paid for everything, the four-star quarterback out of Alabaster, Alabama said this past weekend in Columbia felt like an official visit.
The fact that I was the only recruit up there, it made me feel really special,” Seaborn said. “My parents loved it. They’re absolutely blown away by obviously the facilities and all the physical stuff, but also the people we met. The people that we met are just out of this world.”
Seaborn, who led Thompson High to a state title last season as a sophomore, is already a Top 20 quarterback in the Class of 2027 with a dozen SEC offers. South Carolina’s pursuit began last summer, when then-offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains offered Seaborn and invited him to Columbia for a private workout.
While Loggains was his main recruiter, he did occasionally call and talk with Shula — who served as an offensive analyst last year. When Loggains was hired as Appalachian State’s head coach and Shula was promoted at USC, Seaborn’s connection with South Carolina remained.
That was only furthered this past weekend. As part of the visit, the Seaborns accompanied Shula to Sunday Mass at The Basilica of Saint Peter in downtown Columbia.
