By Hale McGranahan.

Hough High School cornerback Mark Fields already has a pretty good feel for the way things are in Clemson.

Next month, the former South Carolina commitment, will make the drive down from the Charlotte area and take an official visit to Clemson.

“I’m not really looking to see anything, because I’ve been there so many times prior,” Fields told TheClemsonInsider, during a recent interview. “I know all the coaches and stuff like that. It’s just a chance to hang out and re-start some of the relationships with some of those coaches.”

Fields likes the infrastructure that Dabo Swinney has in place at Clemson. He’s also impressed with what’s coming down the pipeline.

“The facilities are nice. I love that they’re building, they’ve got a new project going on for the locker room and stuff like that, so that’s pretty cool,” Fields said.

His teammate, safety Van Smith, has been committed to Clemson for over a year. Smith will arrive to Clemson after the first of the year and begin his college career.

“He’s been in my ear just a little bit,” Fields said. “Van’s not really a big talker, so we’ve talked about it before, but it’s kind of my decision.”

Fields is scheduled to take an official visit the weekend of Jan. 16. South Carolina will have him down the following weekend. No trip to Texas has been scheduled.

The pledge to South Carolina was withdrawn last Tuesday.

“It was just too much uncertainty for me around the program,” Fields said. “I just wasn’t sure if I was done right then. I just decided to look at all options.”

There are a couple of factors that have led Fields to keep looking at the Gamecocks.

“It’s a great place,” he said. “I have a bunch of good relationships with a bunch of people down there. They’re on the rise with facilities and stuff like that.

“I just wasn’t ready to commit 100 percent after hearing all that stuff about the program.”

As for Texas, he said: “I have a relationship with the coaches. I haven’t been down there, so I don’t know much about it. I know the coaches have been recruiting me for a while.”

Fields, who missed three games during his senior year because of injury, had 40 tackles, two interceptions and a forced fumble.