TDS Weekly Recruiting Roundup: Contact Period Begins

It's another edition of our weekly recruiting roundup, where we check in with a handful of USF's Class of 2018 verbal commits and potential prospects (because it would take way too long to hit them all).

Last week was a busy week for the USF football coaching staff on the recruiting trail with the official start of the contact period on November 26.

Just as a refresher, the contact period is when coaches can go all out in making in-home/off-campus visits to prospects. This period is a vital time for coaches to not only reassure and solidify the recruits who are already verbally committed but to also make a strong push for other kids on their radar.

Charlie Strong and staff will have until December 18 to make these visits before they enter the dead period just in time for the early signing period from December 20-22.

Before we get into some in-home visits, there were a few #Stampede18 standouts that battled in their respective state semifinals last Friday:

-Three-star Atlanta Carver quarterback Octavious Battle's season came to an end last Friday night.

He and his Panthers were bested 31-7 in the GHSA Class AAAAA state semis by Dylan Fromm (younger brother of UGA starting QB Jake Fromm) and his Warner Robins Demons.

-Big three-star Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna guard Sebastian Sainterling is state championship game bound.

He and his Lions destroyed Clearwater Central Catholic 49-3 in the semis on Friday, setting up a showdown with Oxbridge Academy for the Class 3A state championship game this Saturday.

As has been the case all year, there's no updated Hudl video available for Sainterling. Here's some highlights of their 56-0 second-round victory over Benjamin a few weeks ago. He's #70.

-The bid for a Class 5A state championship game appearance came up just short for three-star Pensacola West Florida safety Keyon Helton and his Jaguars as they were eliminated in the semis by Baker County, 48-26.

-The Class 7A state semifinals brought a head-to-head matchup of two Class of 2018 verbal commits where three-star Jacksonville Bartam Trail guard Brad Cecil and his Bears edged three-star Tampa Plant quarterback Jordan McCloud and his Panthers, 34-29.

In Saturday's 7A finale, Cecil will go directly face-to-face with another future USF teammate in three-star Venice defensive tackle Tyrone Barber.

Barber and his Indians got to the title game by ending the playoff streak of three-time defending state champion St. Thomas Aquinas with a close 27-20 victory on Friday.

And now to the in-home visits. Shoutout to 247's Dakotah Wilson for keeping track of all of these.

The USF coaching staff also made visits to a few prospective targets in three-star Sanford Seminole tackle Kenneth Horsey, two-star Atlanta Parkview defensive end Armon Williams, and three-star Tampa Bay Tech quarterback and Tennessee verbal commit Michael Penix.

As always, don't tweet at recruits.