Steele leaves impression on Townsend

SPARTANBURG - Lateek Townsend already has two official visits under his belt. He recently scheduled his third one - to Clemson.

OLB Lateek Townsend Profile

CUTigers spoke with Townsend following a Shrine Bowl practice at Spartanburg High School earlier this week.

“Clemson is the only one right now that I know,” he said. “I’ve got three weeks to get these visits in. I know you’ve got to get them in, so I’m going to scheduled some.”

Townsend set up the visit a week ago during a conversation with Clemson defensive coordinator Kevin Steele.

Steele recently made an in-home visit.

“We don’t always talk about football. He just talks to me regularly. He doesn’t try to talk to me at that coach level,” Townsend said. “It’s not all about football. When it comes, he said we aren’t going to talk about football or recruiting. We’re just going to get to know each other.”

And that’s very refreshing.

“It’s pretty impressive. It’s different from what a lot of other coaches do,” Townsend said.

The Scout.com four-star, who hails from Marlboro County, is playing outside linebacker for the South Carolina team.

Townsend enjoys coming off the edge in the Sandlappers’ 3-4 front.

“It’s awesome. I played middle in most of my high school career. I can also play outside. I pretty much can play it all,” he said. “I’m always looking at it to see how I can get myself better. I know being able to do more things makes you more valuable.”

Sunday’s visit to the Shriners Hospital was one that Townsend won’t soon forget.

“My experience was great,” he said. “Some of those kids don’t have a chance to play football, so we talk to them, sit down. We were in there playing games. If any of them wanted an autograph, I made sure I signed every autograph. I saw one little guy playing pool, knocked a couple of pool balls in. It was great.”