Recruiting roundup: Another July event, major target talk, and a new OL offer
Gamecock Central’s Weekly Recruiting Roundup — which will feature a look back at the latest news, visits, offers and commitments in the world of South Carolina recruiting — is brought to you by Andy Luedecke and MyPerfectFranchise.net.
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— With camp season in the rearview mirror and the coaching staff getting some rest and relaxation, it may not appear as busy on the recruiting front.
One reason for that? We are currently in an NCAA-mandated “dead period” which lasts until July 24. That means that coaches are not visiting prospects on the road, nor are prospects allowed to visit schools.
There’s still some interesting storylines to report on from the past week.
The Recruiting Rundown is designed to get GamecockCentral subscribers caught up on all of it.
— The USC staff hosted a “cookout” style recruiting event for prospects last month. It featured a sprinkling of underclassmen as well as the official visitors from the 2024 class.
Another one is on deck for this month. On July 28, the staff is expected to draw more talent to Columbia for a similar event.
The list is still taking shape internally, so it’s too early to pass one along. For now, know it’s possible that some key names may be expected.
We’ll discuss a couple of them in this space.
— One of the Gamecocks’ offers from June’s summer camp sessions was of the in-state variety.
Abbeville’s Damarcus Leach turned in a performance that earned him an offer from defensive backs coach Torrian Gray and he chatted with us recently for a story that ran last week.
“I just went to camp and was just competing real good,” Leach told GamecockCentral.com during a follow-up interview. “I caught the coach’s eye. That’s when they made the decision to offer me.”
Former walk-on-turned-All-American Jaylan Foster, now a graduate assistant with the program, also spent some time scouting Leach during camp.
“Coach Foster pulled me to the side at first, then he pulled me to the side and took me to where Coach (Torrian) Gray was at,” Leach recalled. “I was pretty excited for it, it being such a big offer for my first.”
Virginia Tech followed up with an offer to the 6-foot-3, 185-pounder, and Leach is also visiting Alabama once the dead period ends on July 25.
— A reminder that a week from today is a key date for USC recruiting.
Four-star wide receiver Keylen Adams is set to announce his choice on July 13.
South Carolina opened up a big lead here last month after an unofficial visit, and then Adams made official visits to Alabama and Virginia Tech.
The one to Blacksburg appeared to move the needle to where it has given USC some legitimate competition.
There have been some mixed returns as of late, but there are still some positive indications for the Gamecocks.
— USC’s appeared to be plenty happy with its offensive line class, which features a trio of nationally-recruited prospects all from the Palmetto State.
Could another one be added? We’ll see.
Lonnie Teasley did extend an offer on June 29 to Bradwell Institute (Georgia) product Elyjah Thurmon.
That’s the same program that produced former USC running back Kevin Harris.
— Another important USC target for the 2024 class now has a decision date set.
Ellaville (Georgia) Schley County defensive back Jalewis Solomon is set to make his choice on August 5.
He told On3’s Chad Simmons this week that one more visit is going to take place before that decision.
It will be to South Carolina on July 28, which happens to be the date of Carolina’s cookout event that was referenced previously.
It’s expected that this one will come down to Florida State – which carries the current edge – and South Carolina.
For the national perspective, here’s what On3’s Simmons passed along:
Jalewis Solomon has locked in a commitment date for Aug. 5. He took numerous visits in June and this one looks to be down to Florida State and South Carolina unless something changes in the coming weeks. Auburn has tried to hold Solomon off so they could receive an official visit. Kentucky is another school hoping to stay in this race. Solomon will be back in Columbia on July 28 and that will be Shane Beamer‘s chance to close on the four-star athlete in south Georgia.
— Over the holiday weekend, there was plenty of online buzz about five-star EDGE target Dylan Stewart.
His On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM) flipped from South Carolina to Ohio State, prompting discussion and plenty of questions as to why that may have happened.
We broke it down in a lengthier piece here.
The Buckeyes have over a 51 percent chance according to the metric, which factors in expert predictions both inside and outside the network plus machine learning to try to predict where prospects will attend school.
There’s no doubt that Ohio State is a factor for Stewart’s services.
We still believe that the Gamecocks’ chances are underrepresented when it comes to the On3 RPM.
There’s still work to be done here as Stewart moves closer to a possible summer decision. My prediction for USC – logged after his official visit to Columbia last month – remains in place. We’ll see where it goes from here.
To finish this out, it would not be a surprise to see Stewart back in Columbia at the end of the month for the cookout event.
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