Even though much of July is considered a “dead period” for recruiting, the all-year-round news cycle of college football recruiting never stops. South Carolina football has been placed in final group lists this month, has seen interested prospects make commitments, and has had a major recruit tease fans with a hype video.
Over the weekend, South Carolina football received some more news as defensive back target Kaj Sanders announced his public commitment.
https://twitter.com/Rivals/status/1677771481684623367?s=20
The 4-star safety prospect from Oradell, New Jersey and Bergen Catholic High School chose to stay home and play for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights over almost 30 Power-5 offers. He released a top-10 in May of Rutgers, South Carolina, Penn State, Syracuse, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Michigan State, Miami, Wisconsin, and Maryland.
Sanders took official visits to Rutgers, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and North Carolina and appeared very interested in all four programs. In the end, the allure of playing for his hometown program was too much for Sanders to pass up.
South Carolina football already has one safety committed in the class of 2024 (4-star South Carolina native Kelvin Hunter), and another commitment (3-star David Bucey from Savannah, Georgia) is likely to move to the position after transitioning from playing linebacker in high school.
The Gamecocks are still in the game for a few more safeties. 4-star Malcolm Ziglar is set to announce his decision later in July, and 3-star Kaleb Harris is extremely interested in the Gamecocks.
4-star athletes Jalewis Solomon and Kam Mikell are major targets for the Gamecocks and are both expected to play defensive back if they end up in Columbia. However, if either player chooses the Gamecocks, they will begin their careers in garnet and black as cornerbacks.
The Gamecocks also have lots of young talent at the position as they return two Freshmen All-Americans from the 2022 season in Nick Emmanwori and DQ Smith and have high hopes for other young players, especially freshman Jalen Kilgore.