It was a key weekend for South Carolina football’s recruiting efforts for more than one reason. In this edition, we break down what happened with some top targets for the Gamecocks.
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— While Shane Beamer and his staff hosted the “Gamecock Olympics” cookout event in Columbia, another top target visited a major contender, while still others were at home mulling their decisions.
Let’s begin with the action in Columbia, where some significant prospects from the 2025 and the 2026 classes were on campus.
In case you missed it, GamecockCentral.com members looked at some of the early reactions – we’ll have more throughout this week – right here .
We’ll cover just a few notable ones in this space.
It’s been unclear which direction the Gamecocks’ efforts could go at the running back position in this class, but Texas product Jayden Jackson is looking like a potential match. He was on campus earlier this summer and then returned for the cookout event.
Marquel Blackwell identified him a while back and has built a nice relationship with Jackson, who rushed for over 2,000 yards in back-to-back seasons at the high school level. We don’t believe it’s prediction time yet or anything, but definitely a player to watch.
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— A couple of top 60 overall prospects in the class from the Carolinas – DB Samari Matthews and WR Jordon Gidron – were also on hand.
Of course, the competition for both is significant. Matthews had trips booked to FSU, Clemson, and UNC right after the visit to Columbia, just as an example. There is a feeling that over the spring and summer that the Gamecocks have done good work here.
It doesn’t appear that either is close to a decision, so there’s still plenty of time. But the visits went well for both on Friday.
Stay tuned for more prospect reactions and leftover notes from the cookout event this week on GamecockCentral.com.
— Four-star defensive back Lagonza Hayward committed to Tennessee as expected over the weekend. Yes, he was one of the #WelcomeHomes referenced by Shane Beamer earlier this year.
The Gamecocks lost some steam after Hayward followed his South Carolina official visit with trips to Florida and Tennessee, and the Vols – at one point a huge leader – were able to reclaim that status.
— In the coming days, a trio of four-star prospects that the Gamecocks are in the running for are set to announce their college destinations.
Norfolk (Va.) Maury four-star safety Kendall Daniels is up first on August 2. His finalists are South Carolina, Virginia Tech, and Clemson. Out of the ones that will be listed here, things have looked the most favorable for him.
— Virginia Beach (Va.) Salem four-star OL Jaylen Gilchrist will be up next on August 3, and the finalists are South Carolina, Maryland, and Georgia.
There have been some reasons to feel good even as of late for the Gamecocks, but the others can’t necessarily be ruled out. That’s especially the case with Maryland. Anyone getting Malik Clark/FSU vibes, it’s understandable. This is one we will be tracking up until the end, we think.
— Hoover (Ala.) Thompson four-star EDGE Jared Smith also plans to announce his choice on August 3 between South Carolina, Auburn, Georgia, Ole Miss, Southern California, and Florida State.
This one is really down to Auburn and the Gamecocks. As has been documented, the Tigers have made a major push for Smith in recent days and hosted him over the weekend for a recruiting event.
While Auburn scored some big commitments coming out of the weekend, Smith was not one of them. He told AuburnLive.com that he didn’t yet know which program he would pick on August 3.
It’s encouraging that Auburn wasn’t able to get Smith to shut it down, and Sterling Lucas’ efforts here have been outstanding for the Gamecocks.
While USC was in great position this spring and early summer, the in-state program has become a major factor. This one will be another down-to-the-wire battle, but it’s not safe to just assume it will be Auburn. Lucas also has the Gamecocks in range.
— Of course, this week is a huge one for South Carolina’s recruiting efforts. There have been some blows on the recruiting trail as of late, and it would hurt to lose out on multiple prospects for which the Gamecocks have been long time leaders.
Shane Beamer mentioned at his Birdies for Beamer golf tournament last week that “winning cures all” in response to a question about momentum.
We feel the same about the Gamecocks’ recruiting efforts in this class. It was known that many top targets would announce before the season. Some of those have gone USC’s way and some of them have not.
It’s very possible that some of these recruitments are not going to be over, whether it’s other programs looking at USC’s commitment list or the Gamecocks making another run at some guys they have lost out on in the past.
Carolina needs to win some games to erase the taste of 5-7 and to have on-field progress to point to here. In addition, we have also reported previously that the NIL picture in Columbia has made some headway as of late. These things do take a little time for the fruit to bear, so that’s also been a factor in some instances.
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