Spartanburg QB Raheim Jeter loving life with dad in recruiting journey – Spartanburg Herald Journal

A blossoming local football star and his father turned the teenager's thriving high-level recruiting process into a summeradventure creating memories that will last a lifetime.

Spartanburg quarterback Raheim Jeter and his father, Antwan Jeter, used the junior's fast-rising visibility as a national prospect to crisscross the country by both car and plane, mixing business with plenty of pleasure as they visited campuses far and wide.

"(Being recruited) is something I dreamed about as a kid so to be actually living it is a lot of fun," Raheim Jeter said. "Me and my dad get totalk a lot and look at different stuff and have had a lot of fun doing thingsI try to soak it all in because I know every kid doesn't get to go to all these universities around the country. I'm extremely blessed."

"I'm having the time of my life, to be honest with you," AntwanJeter said. "I cherish it. Just those father-son talks overthat time, we can sit down and really chop it up and have those talks about all kinds of things. Life, life's lessons, football, we talk a littlebit of it all. We'rejust having fun anywhere we go and making the best out of each trip.We've always been close, and this has just kind of been a cherry on top."

Spartanburg quarterbacks coach Grey Ramsey admires the way the Jeters have worked enjoyment and bonding into the recruiting process and had some similar memories shared with his father during his youth.

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"I had a great relationship with my dad growing up and a lot of memories I have of doing some similar things traveling, whether it be onthe football or baseball circuit," Ramsey said. "I'm just super happy for them to be able to share those moments."

The main purpose of the trips was to participate in various football camps on university grounds, getting a chance for an early audition of sorts as well as getting acquainted with coaches he'll get to know far better prior to making his college choice. He also got to inspect the overall campuses and their surrounding environments.

Jeter participated in camps at Clemson, Alabama, Miami, Wisconsin, Florida State, Penn State, North Carolina, Kentucky, Florida, and while at Georgia with his teammates for a 7-on-7 event, he worked out for the Bulldogs staff.

Along with his father he attended Virginia Tech's Sept. 11 game against Middle Tennessee and last weekend was among 100,000-plus in the crazy atmosphere of the "white-out" game at Penn State to see the Nittany Lions defeat Auburn in a battle of ranked teams.

"The white-out game was crazy, one of the best I've ever been to," Jeter said.

Next up is South Carolina hosting Kentucky on Saturday. Jeter was initially offered by former USCcoach Will Muschamp, but this will be his first real contact with first-year coach Shane Beamer and his staff.

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Ramsey acknowledgedJeter is very appreciative and fully understands how fortunate he is to have worked hard enough to put himself in such a favorable situation.

"He's getting to experience a lot of things most kids don't have the luxury of doing," Ramsey said. "Goingto Penn State last week for a white-out game, that's a bucket list item for a lot of people whether you're a Penn State fan or not. He got to go to Virginia Tech and listen to (the Hokies entering the stadium to Metallica's) 'Enter Sandman' so he's experiencing things a lot of people only dream of.

"I think he's enjoying it all and once we get to this next offseason the seriousness of deciding on where he wants to go and how he's going to approach it will intensify. Now he's just putting things in his toolbox, his notebook to think about later, but I think he's truly embracing those trips he's been able to have with his dad and soaking in as much information as he can during this time period."

At one of the earliest camps this past summer -- Under Armour'sESPN Elite Underclassmen Camp in Charlotte late in May -- Jeter won the QB MVP Award.

"To go out there and put my skills on display and show what I can do," Jeter said, "it definitely boosted my confidence."

Jeter received a lot of attention from Clemson quarterbacks coach Brandon Streeter at Clemson'scamp in early June, and during one accuracy drill caught the eye of coach Dabo Swinney, who quickly left the wide receivers group he was watching to focus better on Jeter.

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He hasn't received an offer from Clemson, a school notoriously slow to extend offers to juniors.

"I kind of look at it as another school," Jeter said, "and if they come and offer me then I'll put them alongside the other schools and weighall the pros and cons of each."

As for all the camps as a whole, Jeter said he loves "everything about it. You get to go compete against some of the best in the country and get to see some beautiful places as you travel. And then the coaches and the connections you make are great. It's definitely fun meeting those high-up coaches like that."

One interaction with a well-known and national championship-winning coach was at Auburn's camp prior to his freshman year when former coach Gus Malzahn was in charge.

"He picked Raheim and another kid to come work out personally with him," Antwan Jeter said. "Me just seeing that, it was a surreal moment. Same thing at Clemson this past summer, he's right there talking to Coach Streeter. A lot of times for me there's some surreal moments, and I'm just taking it all in."

Jeter, 6-foot-3 and 230 pounds, is ranked as the No. 37 quarterback and ninth-best player in South Carolina for 2023 by 247Sports. The Prep Redzone South Carolina 2023 rankings released Tuesday rank him as the No. 6 overall prospect in the state and second-ranked quarterback behind Fort Dorchester's Zolten Osborne.

Jeter has offers from Georgia, Auburn, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Missouri, Kentucky, Memphis, Temple and Charlotte.

"I don't really have any leaders," he said. "I just kind of stack everyone up until it's time to make a decision."

He played his freshman season at Greer before transferring to Spartanburg prior to last year after the family inherited a house in District 7 following the death of his great grandmother.

He entered into a great situation for coach Mark Hodge's first season with the Vikings. Hodge, with Ramsey as his top assistant, won two state championships at Chapman and went 53-5 during his last four seasons due mainly to a high-flying offense that produced record numbers for his quarterbacks.

Jeter missedthe season opener this season afterinjuringa shoulder during the preseason and came off the bench to play in the second game. In two starts since (both wins) he completed21 of 29 passes with four touchdowns against Hillcrest and was 23-of-30 for 442 yards witha touchdown against Boiling Springs. He had zero interceptions.

Ramsey said the coaching staff includes Jeter's input in a big way, so much so that he jokingly said the quarterback likely deserves a financial supplement for all the work he puts in.

"He's doing as much as the coaching staff as far as being involved in the game plan, team meetings and ideas for what we want to do," Ramsey said. "He's now more comfortable having been around our system and has become a leader in every single thing we do. We demand a lot of him on the field, but we probably demand more from him in the classroom, the weight room, the locker room. He's an extension of the coaching staff."

That trust has translated into Jeter enjoying an extreme amount of freedom at the line of scrimmage to check in and out of calls as he see's fit, something out of the norm for the majority of high school quarterbacks who regularly are committing solely to the play called from the sideline.

"I couldn't imagine playing anywhere else," Jeter said. "... It's really just a blessing getting into this program."

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Spartanburg QB Raheim Jeter loving life with dad in recruiting journey - Spartanburg Herald Journal