A year ago, South Carolina State was successful in luring South Carolina "Mr. Football" Malcolm Long of Gaffney away from a very interested Winston-Salem State.

This weekend, the Bulldogs will try to do the same with "Superman" a.k.a running back Lennel Elmore of Allendale-Fairfax, who's already received an offer from another North Carolina school in three-time defending Football Championship Subdivision champion Appalachian State.

The Shrine Bowl standout is among six senior prospects being recruited by the Bulldogs who will visit the campus this weekend. Along with touring the campus, the visiting student-athletes will get to attend Saturday's basketball doubleheader at the Smith-Hammond-Middleton Memorial Center which includes a noon nationally-televised women's basketball game featuring SCSU against Hampton.

The other five recruits accompanying Elmore include:

- North-South All-Star wide receiver Randall Hawkins (6-0, 190 lbs.) of Class 4-A Division I champion J.F. Byrnes.

- Defensive tackle Dyrell Porcha (6-3, 260 lbs.) of Class A Division II runner-up Carver's Bay.

- Offensive lineman Larry Patterson (6-5, 260 lbs.) of A.C. Flora.

- Running back Gary Grace (5-11, 225 lbs.) of Chattahoochee High School in Alpharetta, Ga.

- Linebacker C.J. Missick (5-10, 200 lbs.) of Stratford.

Over the past two seasons, the 5-10, 165-pound Elmore was among the state's most prolific offensive weapons with over 4,500 total yards and over 40 touchdowns as a running back and kick returner. Elmore helped the Tigers post back-to-back 10-plus victory seasons for the first time in school history and he, Calhoun County's Donte Rumph and Bamberg-Ehrhardt All-American Daquan Bowers were the only Class A players selected to this year's victorious South Carolina Shrine Bowl team.

Elmore is a three-sport athlete at Allendale-Fairfax, competing in boys' basketball and track, where this past May he earned two bronze medals in the high jump and long jump to help the Tigers win the S.C. High School League Class A track and field title. In fact, Elmore is squeezing in his SCSU visit between road basketball games Friday at Estill and Saturday at Wade Hampton.

Elmore's head football and track and field coach, Wayne Farmer, who played at SCSU under Bill Davis, said fellow FCS schools Howard University, Coastal Carolina and Presbyterian have also offered Elmore. Farmer said Elmore plans to visit Appalachian State next weekend.

T&D Senior Sports Writer Thomas Grant Jr. can be reached by e-mail at tgrant@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5547. Discuss this and other stories on-line at TheTandD.com.

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