Midweek update on Gamecocks’ recruiting cookout
The recruiting dead period is now over and the South Carolina Gamecocks — as well as schools across the country — can once again host recruits on campus through the end of this week, before attention officially turns to preseason camp.
South Carolina will hold a final cookout event of the summer on Friday when it’s expected to host a couple of its top remaining 2024 targets as well as some top underclassmen.
Below is a running list of confirmed visitors for the cookout (we will update as the week progresses) as well as some notes below that.
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Gamecock Cookout Expected Visitors
2024
Washington (D.C.) Friendship Collegiate five-star EDGE Dylan Stewart
Ellaville (Ga.) Schley County four-star athlete Jalewis Solomon
2025
Florence (S.C.) South Florence four-star DL Amare Adams
Alpharetta (Ga.) four-star TE Ethan Barbour
Jacksonville (Fla.) Raines four-star OT Solomon Thomas
Atlanta (Ga.) Douglass four-star S Jontae Gilbert (OSU commit)
Greensboro (N.C.) Grimsley four-star EDGE Bryce Davis
Savannah (Ga.) Calvary Day School three-star WR Thomas Blackshear
Irmo (S.C.) ATH AJ Brand
2026
Richmond (Va.) St. Christopher’s School OT Darius Gray
Saint Stephen (S.C.) Timberland IOL Desmond Green
Jackson (Ala.) QB Landon Duckworth
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— Alpharetta (Ga.) four-star TE Ethan Barbour named South Carolina in his Top 8 on Monday and now will be in Columbia on Friday for the cookout.
That trip will be a big one for Carolina to keep pace with other schools with Barbour, who has emerged as a huge priority target in the class. Barbour is a South Carolina legacy but also has in-state Georgia and Alabama after him. He’s slated to visit both of those schools before the season too with UGA getting him on campus on Saturday.
— While I currently don’t expect Meridian (Miss.) four-star running back Daniel Hill to visit South Carolina this weekend — and I do expect him to visit Alabama — I still believe for multiple reasons that the Gamecocks are in front here, with this likely being the last Bama push they have to withstand.
Hill has remained in strong communication with South Carolina and both sources around the Gamecocks — and outside of that bubble — continue to think Carolina has the edge here.
On300 running back Daniel Hill is slated to get back to Alabama, the school he has frequented more than any other in his recruitment. The Mississippi-made athlete was a lean toward the Crimson Tide as an underclassman, but it’s South Carolina that has made the biggest move with the powerful back since visiting Columbia again this spring.
Hill’s return to Tuscaloosa is worth monitoring, but the Gamecocks are still the team I’m hearing is best positioned ahead of his Aug. 23 decision.
— Keep an eye on Savannah (Ga.) Calvary Day School three-star WR Thomas Blackshear, listed above as a visitor for Friday, as a potential major mover in the rankings.
Blackshear has an early three-star ranking from On3 but balled out at South Carolina’s 7-on-7 camp and looked like a national recruit on that day.
Carolina is recruiting him as such and I would expect he is ultimately a Blue Chipper.
— We have been tracking Hinesville (Ga.) Bradwell Institute three-star IOL Elyjah Thurmon as a possible visitor for Friday but he currently plans to visit LSU on Friday and plans to be back in Columbia for a game in the fall. Thurmon is currently visiting Georgia Tech.
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