4-star defensive lineman Jordan Thomas has been racking up scholarship offers in recent weeks. According to his personal Twitter account, the South Carolina football target has received offers from Florida State, West Virginia, Oregon, Colorado, Auburn, and Purdue as the programs join the long list of teams vying to woo the top-100 prospect to play for them.
Over the weekend, Thomas released his top-12 schools. His list included a mixture of new offers and old offers.
https://twitter.com/JordanDBP97/status/1664744612886446081?s=20
Thomas’ top-12 included South Carolina, Michigan, Penn State, LSU, Georgia, Texas A&M, Miami, Auburn, Oregon, Tennessee, Florida, and Rutgers.
Thomas is a consensus 4-star prospect by all major recruiting services. Listed at 6’6″ and 270 pounds, he looks even bigger on film and appears to be destined for a life as an interior defensive tackle rather than a defensive end, a role he sometimes plays in high school at Don Bosco Prep. Thomas is the highest-rated player in New Jersey, ahead of fellow Gamecock target Kaj Sanders.
As of now, Thomas has taken an official visit to Rutgers and has officials lined up for Georgia, South Carolina, and Michigan. Miami appears to be one of the leaders to land Thomas’ fifth and final official visits. According to On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine, the Gamecocks and Scarlet Knights (Rutgers) are the top contenders to pick up a commitment from Thomas.
South Carolina football has targeted the “northeast” (which, according to southerners, is anything from the DMV to Maine) more in recent years than they have in most of the program’s history. Much of this is due to special teams coordinator Pete Lembo and his familiarity with that part of the country.
Because the Gamecocks reeled in a commitment from New England quarterback Dante Reno, the northeast push has intensified. College football programs are allowed eleven official recruiters for off-campus work (head coach plus ten assistants), but Reno has clearly become a 12th recruiter as he is constantly in communication with other Gamecock targets.
Reno’s high school teammate Elijah Newby (4-star linebacker) is visiting Carolina in June, largely thanks to the recruiting efforts of his quarterback. It stands to reason that the talented signal caller will be giving Jordan Thomas a call sometime in the near future, and Gamecock fans hope the recruiting pitch is an effective one.
At this point in the 2024 recruiting cycle, South Carolina football does not have any defensive linemen committed.