Rocket Sanders discusses why he was drawn to the family environment at South Carolina
When looking for a new home after leaving Arkansas, Rocket Sanders was attracted to the South Carolina Gamecocks because of the family environment.
Sanders recently sat down with the Paul Finebaum Show to share what stuck out to him about South Carolina.
“First thing, just being in South Carolina so far, it’s family-based,” Sanders said. “I feel like that’s a big thing when it comes down to finding a new home, so I definitely say it’s family-based with players. I felt very welcome when I first got on campus.”
With South Carolina being closer to his hometown in Florida, Sanders found interest in what the program had to offer.
The players and coaches made Sanders feel welcome from the beginning.
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“The main thing was being close back home because you know I have a little one,” Sanders said. “I talked to schools down there as well before I figured out my decision but I wanted to be a little bit closer to home. Fayetteville was about 17 hours away from Florida, so that was the main one”
Being in the transfer portal was a different experience for Sanders than when he was first getting recruited out of high school. COVID-19 presented obstacles in his original recruitment that weren’t the case this time.
“Before college and trying to do my recruitment I was in the little COVID situation to where whenever I wanted to take visits and right when I was going to take visits the COVID thing happened,” Sanders said. “So all my visits were on Zoom. I would probably say the difference was I did have options to go to places to visit. And, you know, South Carolina was one of them.”
Shane Beamer has built a family atmosphere amongst his team at South Carolina. Having a child of his own, Sanders felt at home with what Beamer has built.
“He is a very family guy. That was a big thing with me having a little one and me being a family guy as well. Just whenever I met him, I felt comfortable.”
