South Carolina Football: Fast-rising linebacker makes public commitment

Last week, South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer announced three commitments to the Gamecock football program with his patented “#WelcomeHome” tweets.

One of these three pledges made himself known that day as 5-star punter/placekicker Mason Love revealed he committed to join Carolina’s 2024 recruiting class.

Now, a second name has gone public. Fred “JayR” Johnson, a fast-rising prospect out of the state of Virginia, has joined 4-star Wendell Gregory as class of 2024 Gamecock commitments at the linebacker position.

Johnson is currently a 3-star prospect according to both On3 and 247Sports, but he has seen his stock rise quickly in recent weeks. The Norfolk, Virginia native had already picked up 13 Division-I offers over the last few months (compared to just 4 prior to that), but while on an unofficial visit to check out the South Carolina football program, Johnson put up some eye-popping athletic testing numbers.

Measuring over 6’3” tall and weighing 225 pounds, Johnson ran the 40-yard dash in 4.54 seconds and posted a broad jump number of 9’8”, a mark that is right around average for linebacker prospects in the NFL Draft. At just 17-years old and having never been in a college strength and conditioning program, those numbers are very impressive and are indicative of his ability to become a truly elite athlete after spending some time with Luke Day and his staff.

From a size standpoint, Johnson is reminiscent of the Gamecocks’ top linebacker commitment from the class of 2023. Grayson “Pup” Howard came to Carolina last winter at 6’4” and 230 pounds, just slightly bigger than Johnson. There has been some thought that Howard could end up as an EDGE player if he adds any more weight (he is now listed at 240 pounds), and Johnson could face a similar move if he were to get “too big.” Carolina has a need for help at both linebacker and EDGE, though, so a move would not necessarily hurt either players’ opportunities to play.

With both Love and Johnson having made their commitments public, Gamecock fans are waiting on just one more #WelcomeHome to announce his decision publicly.