South Carolina Gamecocks News: Football recruiting, transfer portal, Wimbledon, more

Here is the latest South Carolina Gamecocks News, starting with a recruiting update for the South Carolina football team.

The Gamecocks received a public commitment from Savannah Christian safety/linebacker David Bucey. Bucey is a 3-star prospect as a linebacker but is expected to move to defensive back for the Gamecocks. He was one of coach Shane Beamer’s #WelcomeHome tweets. There is one more silent commitment who has not announced his commitment publicly.

Current Gamecock commitment Fred “JayR” Johnson is flying up the recruiting rankings. Unranked as recently as a month ago, Johnson received a slight bump in his rating when the Gamecocks offered him a scholarship, but he shot up to the top-150 in 247Sports’ rankings this week and has received an initial ranking from all four major recruiting services.

The nation’s top prospect according to On3 (2024 5-star EDGE Dylan Stewart) had a great visit to South Carolina last weekend, and many national talking heads called the Gamecocks the leader for the Washington DC native. However, this weekend, despite it being a recruiting dead period, Ohio State picked up some momentum in his recruitment.

Another elite DC EDGE player did announce his commitment. DD Holmes chose the Florida State Seminoles in a commitment video this Saturday. His recruitment was believed to have come down to the ‘Noles and the Gamecocks.

4-star wide receiver Parker Livingstone also made his public commitment this weekend. The Texas native made the decision that many thought was coming as he pledged his services to Steve Sarkisian and the in-state Texas Longhorns.

South Carolina receiver target Jonathan Paylor announced a top-5 group of finalists this week. As expected, the Gamecocks are on his list. Many believe the Gamecocks are at the top of his personal leaderboard. NC State, North Carolina, Maryland, and Penn State are his other finalists. Paylor is slated to announce his commitment later in the month of July.

4-star athlete Jalewis Solomon (who is being recruited as a DB by most programs) announced his top-5 last week. South Carolina, Florida State, Kentucky, Auburn, and Texas A&M made the list, but he also named his current leader. Solomon named FSU his leader. South Carolina and Kentucky are factors, and the Gamecocks are considered to be 2nd at this stage of his recruitment.

Former Gamecock defensive tackle Taylor Stallworth got a new NFL deal.

The big defensive lineman signed a deal to join the Carolina Panthers. Stallworth had signed a deal earlier this offseason to stay with the Houston Texans (the team with which he finished last season), but he was released as a roster crunch casualty. Now with the Panthers, Stallworth is reunited with head coach Frank Reich who coached him with the Indianapolis Colts.

Mark Kingston brought in a third full-time assistant to the South Carolina Baseball team.

With a new rule allowing for Division-1 programs to have three full-time assistants, the Gamecocks have hired Joey Holcomb, the top assistant from Campbell. While working with the Fighting Camel offense, Holcomb coached his team to become one of the top offenses in the nation. He is also well-respected as a recruiter.

Holcomb is expected to work with the offense for South Carolina baseball, a duty he will share with associate head coach Monte Lee and head coach Mark Kingston. With Lee and new pitching coach Matt Williams known as great recruiters in the state of South Carolina, it seems probable that Holcomb could handle some out-of-state recruiting duties.

It is unclear as of now what role (if any) Scott Wingo will have on the staff next season. The volunteer assistant coach position no longer exists, so Wingo would have to take a different job in the program (off the field) in order to stay with the Gamecocks.

Speaking of the YardCocks…

The Gamecocks received a transfer portal commitment from an SEC rival. Former Vanderbilt infielder Parker Noland will be a Gamecock next season, using his final year of eligibility in Columbia. Noland has played all over the infield in his career but was primarily a first baseman in 2023 in Nashville. He will compete for playing time at several spots next spring.

South Carolina baseball got its final rankings of the 2023 season.

The 2023 South Carolina Gamecocks finished ranked in all the major polls to end the season. Most of the rankings had the Gamecocks rated somewhere between the 10th and 20th-best team in college baseball for the past season.

Former Gamecock pitcher Jordan Montgomery flirted with history.

“Gumby” pitched a great game for the St. Louis Cardinals against his old team, the New York Yankees. Montgomery carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning and ended up going 6 and 2/3 innings without allowing an earned run and just surrendering 2 hits in the Cardinal victory.

Lamont Paris’ South Carolina basketball team picked up an interesting commitment over the weekend.

Austin Herro, younger brother of former Kentucky Wildcat and current Miami Heat star Tyler Herro, committed as a preferred walk-on to the Gamecocks. The younger Herro is a 6’2″/6’3″ combo guard who can score the basketball.

He is not expected to play much as a freshman as the Gamecocks have four upperclassmen who can play guard (Ta’lon Cooper, Meechie Johnson, Jacobi Wright, and Ebrima Dibba) and high-upside sophomore Zachary Davis. True freshman Morris Ogusuk and walk-on sophomore 3-point specialist Eli Sparkman could also play a role.

The Gamecock basketball programs found out who they will be playing in the first-ever ACC/SEC Challenge.

The Gamecock men will take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at home in Columbia.

The Gamecock women will hit the road to play the North Carolina Tar Heels in Chapel Hill.

Dawn Staley’s squad will look a little different in 2023-2024.

Last week, former 5-star Talaysia Cooper entered the transfer portal. Cooper was expected to compete for a rotation spot this season.

The very next day, Cooper’s roster spot was filled. Coach Dawn Staley tweeted her patented “A birdie just flew in the nest” message to Gamecock Nation, indicating a player committed to the Gamecocks. The silent commitment has not yet come forward.

South Carolina basketball had three alums named to the WNBA All-Star Game.

Forwards A’ja Wilson (leading vote-getter) and Aliyah Boston will be starters in the 2023 WNBA All-Star Game, and guard Allisha Gray will be a reserve.

Speaking of A’ja Wilson…

The former National Player of the Year in college basketball is now a two-time MVP in the WNBA and just got a big new contract worth over $200,000 per season.

South Carolina tennis’ dynamic duo will play together on the biggest stage in tennis.

Wimbledon begins this week at the All England Club, and South Carolina’s doubles stars Toby Samuel and Connor Thomson will compete together for the chance at the gentlemen’s doubles title. Samuel and Thomson spent the entire season ranked number-1 in the country in doubles. Wimbledon will be broadcast on ESPN and ESPN+.

Gamecock fans will be able to watch old South Carolina Athletics footage all day for the South Carolina Gamecock Takeover on SECNetwork.

The Takeover will be on July 11th. In years past, the takeover has primarily included past athletic performances, but other South Carolina programming (like George Rogers’ SEC Storied documentary “King George) has been aired, as well. A schedule of what will be broadcast and at which times it will be broadcast will be released later.

A few NCAA rules items came to light this week, as well.

The transfer portal (across all sports) is expected to have its open window shrunk to 30 days. It is currently 60 days for fall and winter sports and 45 for spring sports. How this might be split up is unclear. The rule change is not finalized but has been recommended by the Division-1 Council and is expected to be ratified.

The NCAA also announced some incoming changes. NLIs (National Letters of Intent) are set to become less binding as players will be allowed to transfer without penalty as long as they request a release from their NLI. The transfer penalty will also be lifted for players who enroll but do not participate in competition (think early enrollee football players or fall enrollee baseball players).

The NCAA Football Oversight Committee has proposed eliminating the 25-scholarship limit that exists for each signing class. The limit had already been temporarily disbanded due to fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The NCAA also seems set to crack down on illegal usage of NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness). NIL is not to be used as a recruiting tool, but anyone who has paid attention knows that it has been a major part of recruiting. The college athletics governing body sent out a memo reminding athletics departments of this rule, indicating that they are going to start monitoring the issue more closely.

While not directly from the NCAA, the American Baseball Coaches Association sent out a memo to every head coach in college baseball reminding them that tampering is illegal. Teams cannot contact players who are not in the portal and cannot offer players NIL deals. The ABCA encouraged teams to report others who violate this rule.