The Insider Report
It’s an important weekend with multiple high-level prospects set to visit the Gamecocks for a cookout event.
USC also hosted one of the country’s top 2025 prospects for a visit on Thursday. What are we hearing on some key targets? It’s all in this edition of The Insider Report, exclusively for subscribers of GamecockCentral.com.
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— To get yourself ready for an important weekend, make sure you have checked out Wes Mitchell’s latest Carolina Confidential, which has some excellent insight into where things stand and what to expect.
The weekend, of course, includes a pair of five-star visitors in Dylan Stewart (2024) and Elijah Griffin (2025), plus other big-time talent.
As a reminder, here is who is expected in for the cookout event:
2024
Washington (D.C.) Friendship Collegiate five-star EDGE Dylan Stewart
Ellaville (Ga.) Schley County four-star athlete Jalewis Solomon
2025
Savannah (Ga.) Savannah Christian five-star DL Elijah Griffin
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
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
— As a reminder on the recruiting calendar, an NCAA-mandated dead period goes into effect on August 1 and runs through August 31. The only exception is if a program has a home game anytime in August (or September 1 and 2), prospects can visit 48 hours before through 48 hours after that game.
What that means for USC is that this is the last time the staff will host prospects in Columbia for visits until after the UNC game in Charlotte.
— I saw fit to go ahead and submit an On3 RPM pick in the Gamecocks’ favor for Florida athlete Z’Marion Lang.
Lang keeps things fairly quiet, so this is definitely one we will be continuing to monitor up until Sunday, when he projects to announce his decision.
Kansas State, Pittsburgh, South Carolina, and South Florida make up Lang’s official final four. One industry source told us that K-State is apparently out, which would not constitute a surprise.
USC’s staff believes that Lang could play either wide receiver or defensive back at the college level. Torrian Gray spent a good bit of time with him in June when Lang was in Columbia visiting. The bigger initial need, however, may be at wide receiver.
— Wes wrote plenty about Jonathan Paylor in his latest Carolina Confidential, but I’ll add a bit more context on my end.
USC was at one point in great shape here, both coming off the official visit in June and for a good portion of time afterwards.
In speaking with some sources familiar with this one, it’s been up and down and more inconsistent later this summer.
Our colleague at TheWolfpacker.com, Ethan McDowell, has entered a prediction for the Wolfpack. NC State has more buzz at this point from what we hear, too.
NIL is a component in this one, which is fine, but it’s probably more of a factor than you’d like it to be if you’re the Gamecocks.
It also seems that the possibility of playing with Greensboro products and fellow pass-catchers Alex Taylor and Terrell Anderson in Raleigh is playing a role here. Interestingly, Taylor seems to be leaning toward UNC, and Anderson toward NC State.
Paylor will visit NC State today, then reportedly is slated to see UNC one more time on Saturday.
I’m quite close to changing my On3 RPM pick to NC State for Paylor, but going to hold off until he finishes out his slate of visits. This one has had some changes in the past, and we need to keep an open mind to that possibility even with the way things look and a return to Raleigh on deck.
— As expected, USC hosted Georgia defensive back Jontae Gilbert, who remains verbally committed to Ohio State, on Thursday.
The four-star prospect has kept an open mind since committing to the Buckeyes last summer and has remained in communication with – and taken visits to – multiple programs.
South Carolina has consistently been high on his list. We noted before this most recent trip to Columbia that Georgia Tech has also established itself as a factor.
The Thursday trip to USC represented the third time since April that Gilbert has checked out Shane Beamer’s program in person.
For now, we feel quite good about where USC stands and would call the Gamecocks the leader to pull off a flip. We’ll see how where things go from here, with how long Gilbert decides to extend the process a key part of that equation.
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