Less than two weeks ago, South Carolina football was named as a top-5 finalist for 5-star EDGE (and top player nationally according to On3) Dylan Stewart. The Washington DC native included the Gamecocks as a finalist heading into his official visit to Columbia last weekend and then had a very good visit.
Things were looking very good for Shane Beamer and his South Carolina football staff in their pursuit of Stewart. National recruiting names took notice, and the Gamecocks were proclaimed to be the leader for Stewart’s services.
However, this weekend, some things started to shift behind the scenes with Stewart’s recruitment.
South Carolina and Ohio State have been viewed as the top contenders for Stewart for the majority of his recruitment (Georgia, Miami, and Maryland were the other teams in his top-5), and the other half of that top-2 seems to have made a move.
The Buckeyes had Stewart in for a visit the weekend before he came to Columbia, and that visit was a good one. However, although the recruiting calendar has had its page turn to a recruiting dead period and the Columbus visit was two weeks ago, OSU just snagged some momentum in the Stewart sweepstakes.
Big names on the national recruiting scene have heard Ohio State-positive news in the past several days. “The Oracle,” 247’s Steve Wiltfong and his colleague Brian Dohn both dropped crystal balls for Stewart to end up as a Buckeye; Ohio State insider Bill Kurelic followed suit with a Buckeye crystal ball of his own.
Ohio State’s NIL collectives have recently seen an increase in overall giving and have immediately shown a willingness to spend this cycle.
The Buckeyes just received a commitment from 5-star defensive tackle Justin Scott, and defensive line coach Larry Johnson was heavily credited for his work on the recruiting trail.
The recruitment of Dylan Stewart is far from over, and the Gamecocks are still firmly in the mix. However, the huge lead that some believed belonged to South Carolina football is not the reality. The Gamecocks and Buckeyes both feel good about Stewart, and this recruitment could be one of the tightest ones in the 2024 class.
The Gamecocks do not have an EDGE player committed in the 2024 cycle, and big target DD Holmes committed to Florida State over the weekend.