Standout performances by local athletes leave colleges salivating

Patrick Orlando wanted to chase his dream of playing NCAA Division I baseball.

The Carolina Forest graduate will have that opportunity with the defending national champions.

Orlando, a sought-after pitcher because of his final two years with the Panthers, elected to accept a walk-on spot at Coastal Carolina. It came less than two weeks after he was released from a previously signed National Letter of Intent with Division II North Greenville.

“When I decommitted, they were going off to Omaha,” Orlando said of the Chanticleers. “I took the risk of losing my commitment to North Greenville. But I always wanted to go to Coastal. All I wanted was a shot.”

After the excitement of the last few weeks, keeping the momentum of a hectic June rolling forward meant continuing to rebuild the CCU roster. Coastal Carolina lost several players to graduation and others to Major League Baseball by way of the draft. That latter list included Orlando’s high school teammate, catcher Ryan Gold, who signed a minor league deal with the Toronto Blue Jays instead of attending CCU.

By that time, Orlando had gotten out of his NLI and was looking for a bigger school.

At Carolina Forest, he was a key piece of back-to-back Lower State runner-up squads the last two springs. As a senior, he was 4-3 with three saves and a 1.61 ERA as the team’s primary closer. He shifted from his spot as a starter after the 2015 season while also providing a significant defensive boost at shortstop when he wasn’t on the mound.

For his efforts, Orlando was named to the Class AAAA All-State team twice and was selected to play in the North-South All-Star game in June. There, he continued to shine, pitching three shutout innings in the final game of the series.

“I really wasn’t talking to Coastal at all,” Orlando said, adding that discussions with CCU pitching coach Drew Thomas started last week. “I talked to my family after the all-star game and they told me to chase my dreams. I get to stay home and play for a defending national champion. I never thought that would happen to me.”

Orlando will join fellow 2016 Carolina Forest graduate Jakob Frishmuth in the Division I ranks, the latter headed to College of Charleston. But the most recent Panther to make a decision has been only a small part of one of the most active recruiting months for Grand Strand athletes in recent memory.

Several area standouts received offers – including some from major universities – while others verbally committed after receiving what they deemed were the right offers for them. That latter group includes a local football player with expectations as high as anyone locally for this fall.

Conway quarterback Peyton Derrick, a rising senior, pledged to Appalachian State in June. The process was a quick one, he said, taking only a matter of hours to make sure the offer was utilized over others from UNC Charlotte and Gardner-Webb.

“After I got that Charlotte offer, I knew I wanted an [FBS] offer. When Charlotte offered, I was really excited about that. But I knew that I was still looking for bigger and better,” Derrick said. “When ASU offered me, it was an option that I couldn’t really waste.”

Derrick set multiple Conway single-season records as a junior by throwing for 2,650 yards and 30 touchdowns last fall. It ignited recruiting interest for the legacy quarterback, whose grandfather Julius (South Carolina), father Dirk (Wofford) and brother Dakota (Furman) all played college football.

According to Derrick, Appalachian State offered four quarterbacks out of the class of 2017, telling each of them only one would be guaranteed a scholarship. He pounced on the chance, accepting it the next day.

“I knew time was ticking,” Derrick said. “They were looking for their guy. I knew I was on the clock.”

Further offers may very well come for the Conway signal caller, but he said he is firmly entrenched in the idea of heading to Boone, N.C.

Meanwhile, a local hoops star has entered what is the busiest portion of his recruiting schedule with a bang.

Carolina Forest rising senior Duane Moss, who already had seven college offers before the open July contact period, picked up his most noticeable one to date when South Carolina and coach Frank Martin joined the fray.

“You can’t deny how big of an offer it is,” Moss said. “But for me, everything is the same. Whether it’s a big school or not, it’s a free education.

“July is the big period for most of them coming in. I’m still in the info process of it now. I’ll start going through the list at the end of July. In my mindset, the longer I wait, the longer the list is probably going to become. That’s a good thing. It allows me to see ‘Is there something in the system, can I be around the coaching staff every day.’ It’s about sorting out what’s good for me.”

Moss, whose father Benny is an assistant at Coastal Carolina, recently found out that he has a standing offer from the Chanticleers, as well.

Head coach Cliff Ellis, Moss said, informed him earlier this year that he could make the short trip to Conway for his college ball. Moss said his father was not a part of that offer in an attempt to avoid any impropriety. But it was also clear by the time Moss discovered any of that he would have plenty of options.

Middle Tennessee State, UNC Charlotte, Tennessee Tech, Furman, Delaware and New Jersey Institute of Technology have also now offered, and by the end of the month, others will surely join them.

Moss has had a dynamic summer with the North Carolina-based Flight 22 Elite team after averaging just shy of 14 points and seven rebounds per game last winter for Carolina Forest.

Another Toast of the Coast selection from last season, Justin Busby, is also entering the crux of his big recruiting window. Busby, who transferred to Christian Academy of Myrtle Beach after previously playing at Waccamaw, was a Class AA All-State selection after averaging 18 points per game as a junior. While playing for Manzer Academy this summer, Busby picked up his first offer from Army in mid-June.

The area’s top boys golfer didn’t take long to make his college pick. Waccamaw’s Patrick Golden, the two-time Toast of the Coast Golfer of the Year, verbally committed to College of Charleston on June 15 after the Cougars extended an offer following a tournament. Golden also had offers from UNC Charlotte, James Madison and Richmond, among others, and is one of the diamonds of the state’s 2017 recruiting class.

He set the state’s all-time tournament record in May by shooting a two-day 131 at the Class AA finals, and he averaged under par for the season.

Two Myrtle Beach football players also started to pick up steam in recent weeks. Per Seahawks coach Mickey Wilson, receiver/defensive back Keyonte Sessions now has offers from The Citadel, North Greenville, Newberry and Presbyterian, while receiver Will Vereen snagged his first, from South Carolina State.

Another former football player, Hunter Windham, is now considered a full scholarship player at Wofford. The Class of 2013 Aynor graduate and Southern Conference All-Academic team selection was informed in June the portion of his tuition not covered from academic scholarship money would be taken care of via athletic funds.

As a sophomore at Wofford last fall, Windham ran for 268 yards and three touchdowns.

This story was originally published July 11, 2016 at 5:51 PM with the headline "Standout performances by local athletes leave colleges salivating."