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#20Strong: Weekly Recruiting Roundup Week 7

Another week of our recruiting roundup where we check in with a handful of prospects from USF football’s 2020 class.

By Nick Simon
NCAA Football: South Florida at Connecticut David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

We’re back with another edition of our weekly recruiting roundup, where we drop in a handful of USF’s Class of 2020 prospects and see how they’re doing during their senior seasons in high school.

Lake City Columbia QB Jordan Smith

Lake City Columbia ATH Marquez Bell

Lake City Columbia LB Le’Vontae Camiel

In a battle of No. 1’s in North Florida, the Tiger trio of Smith, Bell and Camiel helped 6A Columbia come back from a halftime to deficit to topple two-time defending 1A champion Madison County 32-21 last Friday night.

Struggling early by throwing two interceptions in the first half, Smith settled in by connecting with Bell on two touchdowns in the second half to pull CHS ahead. The QB finished the game 14-of-23 with 384 yards and four touchdowns.

On the other side of the line of scrimmage, Camiel and the Tiger D tightened up late by shutting out Madison County in the second half. Here he is clinching the game with a forced fumble in the fourth quarter.

“Adjust, adjust, adjust. We just had to put the right personnel in the right positions,” Camiel told WRUF after the game. “After we made adjustments, I told my linebackers and d-backs that we trust them.”

On the year, Smith has thrown for 1,460 yards and 13 touchdowns with a 61% completion percentage. Bell had caught 28 passes for 547 yards and five TD’s while Camiel has stockpiled 44 tackles, nine tackles for loss, five sacks and two forced fumbles through six games.

The 6-0 Tigers will head to Jacksonville this Friday for a District 6A-2 showdown with Lee.

Gainesville DT Gentle Hunt

After being pasted 41-14 by the Columbia trio two weeks ago, Gentle Hunt and his Gainesville Hurricanes came up just short in an 18-13 loss to crosstown rival Buchholz last Friday. The defensive line commit did make a few impact plays in the setback.

0-6 Gainesville will look for their first win of the season this Friday when heading to District 6A-2 foe Middleburg.

Valdosta (GA) QB Tate Rodemaker

Rodemaker and his Valdosta Wildcats have had a week to stew on their first loss of the season, a 24-0 thumping at the hands of crosstown 7A powerhouse Lowndes in the annual “Winnersville Classic” in south Georgia.

The Valdosta QB finished the game going 14-of-25 passing for 133 yards and threw a pick six. According to the Valdosta Times, he took a beating by the Vikings defense and was taken out of the game late.

Lowndes defensive coordinator talked about Byron Slack talked about Rodemaker after the game.

“I haven’t seen every quarterback in the state but he’s the best one that I’ve seen,” Slack told the Valdosta Times. “With his decision making process, our plan was to shorten that decision making process. With a little pressure.”

The week wasn’t all bad as the signal-caller did get to appear alongside his father, VHS head coach Alan Rodemaker, on cover of the latest edition of ITG Next Magazine in south Georgia.

After a week to regroup, Rodemaker and the No. 4 Wildcats will try to get back on track when hosting Houston County to open Region 1-AAAAAA play this Friday night.

2020 Verbal Commits