South Carolina Football: Talented 2024 athlete coached by former Gamecock includes USC in top-6

Erik Kimrey is a bit of a folk hero in Columbia, South Carolina. The former Dutch Fork star quarterback spurned several scholarship opportunities to become a walk-on to his hometown South Carolina football team. As a redshirt sophomore, he was the passing half of one of the most memorable completions in Gamecock history, a 4th down game-winner known as “The Fade.”

After his college career, Kimrey won 12 state championships in 17 years as the head coach at Hammond School in Columbia. He then spent a season coaching at his alma mater as the University of South Carolina’s tight ends coach. He returned to the high school game last season with Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tennessee and immediately won another state title.

Now, just as was the case a few times at Hammond, Kimrey has a Gamecock recruiting target on his roster.

Amari Jefferson is a big-time playmaker for Kimrey’s Baylor squad and is ranked as a 4-star athlete. A multi-positional playmaker during his high school career at Baylor, Jefferson seems poised to play wide receiver at the next level. He is listed at 6’1″ and has elite top-end speed.

Earlier in the week, he announced his top-6 schools via his personal Twitter account.

https://twitter.com/AmariJefferson6/status/1665822070389735426?s=20

Jefferson named South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Miami as his six finalists. He has taken an official visit to Georgia and will be in Tuscaloosa this weekend to visit the University of Alabama where former Gamecock assistant Joe Cox is one of his primary recruiters. He will head to Knoxville to visit the Tennessee Vols later in June.

Jefferson is a two-sport star for Baylor and is a Tennessee baseball commitment. He will play football at the collegiate level and plans to play baseball, as well.

South Carolina football is expected to land an official visit from Jefferson, but he has not yet scheduled a trip to Columbia.