South Carolina Football: Highly-rated target Josiah Thompson makes his commitment

South Carolina football offered Dillon’s Josiah Thompson when he was just a freshman in high school. Will Muschamp was the head coach then, but after Shane Beamer was hired to replace the previous head coach, the new staff made Thompson a priority. Over the last two and a half years, Thompson has been on campus more than almost any other recruit, and the big offensive lineman has been flying up recruiting rankings.

Thompson is a consensus 4-star prospect at the moment, but he is ranked inside the top-20 overall players by On3, meaning he has a high possibility of being labeled as a 5-star before the recruitment process is complete. At 6’7″ and 275 pounds with extremely long arms, Thompson has an athletic profile that fits best as a left tackle.

After making an announcement several weeks ago that he knew where he was going to commit, on Friday morning, the MaxPreps All-American made his college decision known to the world. After a short ceremony with his family at Dillon High School, Thompson donned a South Carolina hat, an outcome in which most Carolina fans were hopeful. The Gamecocks likely just landed a big piece (literally) to the future success of the program.

Thompson joins quarterback Dante Reno, wide receiver Mazeo Bennett, tight end Michael Smith, linebacker Wendell Gregory, interior offensive lineman Blake Franks, and fellow offensive tackle Kam Pringle in the 2024 class.

“Big Cat,” as Thompson is nicknamed, possesses the rare combination of being ready to play while still having significant room to grow as a player. His ceiling is almost unlimited. Athletic enough to be a tight end early in his high school career, Thompson does well blocking up to the second level and has good feet that could see him develop into a top-tier pass blocker. On film, the big man routinely crushes smaller players, and, frankly, almost everyone he lines up against will be smaller than him, even at the college level.

Thompson chose the Gamecocks over a top-6 that also included Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Miami, and Clemson. It appears he was the second #WelcomeHome that Head Coach Shane Beamer tweeted out several weeks ago.

Thompson’s commitment kick starts a big recruiting weekend for the South Carolina football program as tons of big-time recruits will be on campus this weekend for the annual Garnet and Black spring game.