South Carolina Football: Big DL target makes commitment

South Carolina football had a big week on the recruiting front last week as coach Shane Beamer announced that three class of 2024 prospects committed to the Gamecock program with three #WelcomeHome tweets. 5-star punter/placekicker Mason Love went public almost immediately, and 3-star (and fast-rising) linebacker Fred “JayR” Johnson made his commitment public over the weekend. The third #WelcomeHome is still unknown.

This weekend, more recruiting news dropped, but it wasn’t quite as positive as the days that came before. 4-star defensive tackle target Nasir Johnson announced his commitment, but it was not to Shane Beamer and South Carolina football.

Johnson has pledged himself to Billy Napier and the Florida Gators who have had a great week on the recruiting trail just like the Gamecocks.

The big defensive tackle was a recent mover in the recruiting rankings after receiving tons of new offers over the last couple of months. He has risen as high as the top-200 recruits in the nation according to 247Sports.

Johnson had shown significant interest in South Carolina football and the Florida State Seminoles, but the Florida Gators won out in the end for the Dublin, Georgia native. He is not shutting down his recruitment completely, however, as he still plans to take official visits. He took his official visit to South Carolina earlier in June.

Johnson is not the first South Carolina-Florida battle in the 2024 recruiting cycle. Former Gamecock offensive line commitment Mike Williams backed off his pledge to South Carolina football and committed to Florida last week.

At defensive tackle, the Gamecocks are in need of a commitment or two as new defensive tackles coach Travian Robertson does not yet have any prospects committed at the position.

4-star Jordan Thomas recently committed to Georgia, and Nnamdi Ogboko and D’Nas White are two 3-star recruits at the position that are very high on the Gamecocks. 4-star target Liam Andrews plays both offensive line and defensive line and could play either at the collegiate level.