Carolina Confidential – More on Braylon Staley offer
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South Carolina extended an offer to Aiken (S.C.) Strom Thurmond class of 2024 four-star wide receiver and Tennessee commit Braylon Staley on Thursday as the Gamecocks are going to take a swing at flipping the speedy receiver.
For context and a reminder because we reported on it at the time, South Carolina seemed somewhat close to offering Staley in June, shortly before Staley committed to Tennessee, but they were still evaluating him and wanted to see him in camp before making a call — but a camp stop never happened and he ultimately committed to the Vols.
Where do things stand now? I don’t believe South Carolina would be wasting its time with an offer if there wasn’t some chance of a flip. In doing some preliminary checking, I don’t believe any type of change in his recruitment is imminent at this time but the Gamecocks offer does at least have Staley’s attention, and the possibility of playing for his home state, closer to home, is a factor that does matter to Staley, so we hear. There’s the possibility of some traction here.
The Gamecocks obviously offered later than most but they also wanted to be sure before doing so. In Clemson’s case, the Tigers had an early offer out to the in-state target but ultimately filled up at his position and didn’t have room anymore.
Carolina will likely be active in the transfer portal at receiver this offseason but they’d also like to add another high school receiver prospect to go along with the two that are already committed.
South Carolina has continued to evaluate Staley and he’s had a great start to his senior campaign appearing to make a jump in his development. As you’ll see in his senior film below, the 6-foot, 180-pounder has explosiveness and the ability to make defenders miss, combined with verified track speed as the state champion in the 200M and the triple jump.
On the football field, Staley reportedly (according to Max Preps) has 37 catches for 638 yards and six touchdowns in six games this season.
The next step? South Carolina wide receivers coach Justin Stepp will be at Staley’s game Friday as Strom Thurmond takes on Saluda.
We’ll continue to track this.
— As a reminder, and as Chris reported yesterday, running backs coach Montario Hardesty will be at four-star running back target Daniel Hill‘s game to watch him on Friday.
— The South Carolina-Florida game is already setting up to be one of the Gamecocks biggest recruiting days of the season so far as there is already a nice list of early potential visitors for this one.
Keeping in mind that at this early time, there will be a bunch of names added here, and some of these guys probably won’t make it. But here are some early potentials for that SEC matchup:
Loganville (Ga.) Grayson 2024 three-star WR John Cineas
Mableton (Ga.) Pebblebrook 2024 three-star DL Chukwundedu Okeke (WKU commit)
Findlay (Oh.) 2025 four-star QB Ryan Montgomery
Charlotte (N.C.) Providence Day 2025 four-star OT David Sanders
Atlanta (Ga.) Westlake 2025 four-star IOL Juan Gaston
Virginia Beach (Va.) Salem 2025 four-star OT Jaylen Gilchrist
Buford (Ga.) 2025 four-star OT Brayden Jacobs
Snellville (Ga.) 2025 four-star IOL Cortez Smith
Ocala (Fla.) Trinity Catholic 2025 OT Gerrick Gordon
Ocala (Fla.) Trinity Catholic 2026 G’Nivre Carr
Timberland (S.C.) 2026 OL Desmond Green
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