The latest on five-star Gamecocks target Dylan Stewart

The nation’s top overall prospect according to On3 has four summer official visits set, including a June return to Columbia to see the Gamecocks again.

Dylan Stewart’s recruitment has heated up in recent months as competing programs have made big pushes to overtake South Carolina, which has – at least, at times – been the leader.

Georgia, Miami, Ohio State, and South Carolina are all booked for official visits in consecutive weekends beginning this coming weekend.

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Let’s take a look at those programs, and one other, in this race.

GEORGIA: This program has won back-to-back national titles and can never be discounted in pursuit of a big-time target. The Bulldogs are also first up for an official. On3’s Chad Simmons recently made some interesting comments on UGA’s chances, however.

“Georgia will get the first official visit, but the Bulldogs have faded some in this race,” he noted on May 25.

MIAMI: Stewart visited here a couple times during the spring and is indeed going to take an official to Mario Cristobal’s program.

Here’s On3’s Chad Simmons on Miami and Stewart: “The Hurricanes have been trending up and look to be in a good position heading into the official visit. Miami has some momentum as we close out the month of May.”

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OHIO STATE: The Buckeyes have drawn a visit from Stewart previously, and represent one of the programs currently slated for an official. At one point, there was some national buzz around OSU and Stewart. Certainly, they’re still in the game.

TENNESSEE: The Vols have not been mentioned as much here, but Josh Heupel’s program did land an unofficial visit over the weekend from Stewart. There have not been many detailed returns on the trip thus far, but we do know the Vols have been recruiting well and have been extremely active on the NIL front.

SOUTH CAROLINA: GamecockCentral.com’s Wes Mitchell recently drew a parallel between the recruitment of Stewart and another five-star from the DMV region that signed with the Gamecocks.

“South Carolina got in on him early, started building those relationships and then were just kind of quietly sitting there going about their business,” Mitchell said of Harbor during a conversation on the On3 Roundtable. “Other major schools got involved so he was taking visits to other places too but it just kind they quietly ran their game.”

“Do not sleep on South Carolina either, ” said On3’s Chad Simmons. ” He has visited Columbia more than any other college campus.”

As mentioned previously, Stewart has named USC as his public leader more than once, although he has refrained from naming a single front-runner as of late.

THE BOTTOM LINE: South Carolina’s staff knew that this wave was coming; no program in the country lands five-star talents uncontested. As things stand, no program has hosted Stewart for more visits than the Gamecocks, and South Carolina could actually get the last visit swing here, too.

GamecockCentral.com has not yet entered an On3 RPM pick for Stewart.

It will be interesting to see what transpires here after Stewart makes his round of officials this summer, given the involved players.

It’s worth pointing out that while there’s been a rotating cast of characters among the schools that have generated some type of “perceived leader” buzz – Alabama, Ohio State, Miami among them – it’s never seemed consistent.

The Gamecocks, meanwhile, have been there from the start. And as Stewart continues taking visits and inches closer to a choice, still USC is there.

Many outside of Columbia are still discounting USC’s chances.

Those inside Columbia are just fine with that.

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