‘A great day.’ Gamecock assistant opens up about big recruiting win, birth of daughters
Sterling Lucas won’t forget the events of last week any time soon.
The South Carolina defensive ends and outside linebackers coach had a busy day last Tuesday. The day saw Lucas’ wife Brittany giving birth to twins, which brings the total of four girls in the family.
It also included the Gamecocks getting a commitment from defensive end Dylan Stewart, a five star prospect from Friendship Collegiate Academy High School in the Washington, D.C., area. Lucas was Stewat’s lead recruiter.
USC director of on-campus recruiting Jessica Jackson shared a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) from coach Shane Beamer sharing a screenshot of a FaceTime call with Lucas. The defensive ends and outside linebackers coach was shown inside a hospital room wearing a hairnet in the screenshot and a shirt that said “GIRL DAD”
“It was an exciting day,” Lucas told reporters on Thursday. “My daughters were born. It was a great day all around. I know you saw the picture of me and Coach Beamer face-timing so that will go down in history. Aug. 1, 2023, was a great day.”
Thursday was the first time Lucas talked to reporters since the birth of his children and Stewart’s commitment. He missed the team’s media day to spend time with his family and has been busy getting ready for the season.
Lucas is becoming quickly known as one of the staff’s best recruiters despite not having a lot of experience doing it. Before landing at USC, he spent six years as a coach in the NFL with the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars.
Beamer hired Lucas in January of last year. He came highly recommended by Gamecocks defensive coordinator Clayton White, who worked with him at N.C. State when Lucas was a graduate assistant.
White gave Lucas praise on the day Stewart committed to South Carolina. He sent a viral video of Denzel Washington and Jaime Foxx in which Washington jokes with Foxx that he’s “leaving here with something.” White captioned it by writing “@CoachSterlLuc when he lands for his recruiting trips. This is pretty much our conversations. #Gamecocks”
“You definitely know you have to have your energy up when you are with Sterling. I love that because it brings a little bit of the youth out in me a little bit. He is 10 years younger than me so he keeps me up with what the new music is out there,” White said at USC’s media day. “He has a great personality, and I have known him for a long time. He always is a guy who has a nice smile on his face and is always himself. That is the main thing, he gets to be himself.”
Lucas said being personable and authentic are two of the keys in being a good recruiter and why he has been able to help land some of USC’s top recruits over the past year and a half. He also recruited five-star receiver Nyck Harbor, defensive end Desmond Umeozolu, linebacker Grayson “Pup Howard” and defensive back Kelvin Hunter.
“Recruiting is just being authentic, being yourself and building relationships with guys and selling the opportunity,” Lucas said. “South Carolina is a great school and great tradition so it is easy to sell the University of South Carolina, especially with the trajectory we are going with Coach Beamer.”
