Pair of Virtual Visits Secured Official From Gaines

Ahmed Ghafir
Jun 2, 2021
3 min read

Tampa Bay Tech (FL) three-star wide receiver Greg Gaines will embark on the first of four official visits this weekend. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound wideout will make his long-awaited trip to Iowa State where head coach Matt Campbell will get a chance to show Gaines and his family around.

“It’s been quite a minute. Ever since they offered me I want to say my sophomore year,” Gaines told Inside the Black & Gold. That offer came back in December of 2019 as RB/WR coach Nathan Scheelhaase, lead recruiter for the Cyclones, has established a strong relationship. “That’s one of the main reasons why I decided to take an official visit there. They showed me that they can develop me and use me and put me in their offense and show me how I can fit in there.”

After Iowa State, Gaines will head to Kansas State the weekend of June 11 before heading to College Park. Gaines originally planned to officially visit UCF before those plans were nixed in favor of Maryland. “That’s the latest one I set because it’s one of my latest offers.” The Terps jumped in the mix in late April after inside linebackers coach Brawley Evans extended an offer while wide receivers coach Zohn Burden has established a strong relationship since.

“That’s the crazy thing about it. Coach Brawley [Evans], coach Zohn [Burden], coach [Mike] Locksley, they’re like family to my 7-on-7 organization and one of my coaches at my school, he’s actually really close to coach Brawley so I’m talking to them on a daily basis and that’s a big reason why I set an official visit with them. Then when we did our Zoom, they showed me the same thing that Iowa State and others have shown so that was a big role.”

The Terps got in a pair of Zooms to secure the official visit as Gaines got a good idea of what the Terps had to offer on the field. “I recently did a Zoom of a tour of the facilities and stuff and then the newer stuff they have installed now. And then they did a Zoom of how they see me fitting into their offense. That was strictly football, I had my wide receiver, my offensive coordinator and my head coach on also and they showed me how I can fit into their offense and things that they do and how they run their offense.” The relationships that he and his family have with the staff in College Park have also caught his full attention.

“That’s a very good relationship just in the matter of time since they offered me to now, we were able to get a lot of information out to each other, communicate, get to know each other. Not just being quick, actually a genuine relationship. We talk about a lot of different things that have to do with Maryland, with me, with the world right now. We talk about quite a few different things.”

Gaines details what he’s looking to see when he checks out College Park.

“I want to learn more about, I know Maryland’s surrounding area is big for a lot of FBI and high-ranking organizations. I want to learn more about that and me graduating and pursuing a career in business and health, that’s one of the main things. And really, just learn more about Maryland. Over the phone and through the virtuals, you get a feeling but a visit is way different.”

Gaines will take his fourth official to Indiana the weekend of June 25 and after that, he and his family will sort through his four trips.

“That’s one thing we’re very indecisive about. It’s really comparing and contrasting, reviewing the options but I really say it can come after any point in time after this month of June. We’re going to just wait and see how these visits go. See what’s similar, what’s different, and then decide after that.”

Gaines is on track to enroll early but has not yet decided whether he will. As a junior, he tallied 43 catches for 804 yards and 13 touchdowns and was named second-team all-state.

Gaines is rated a three-star prospect and an 89 overall according to 247Sports. You can watch his highlight tape here.