South Carolina Football: Major Gamecock target announced commitment date

South Carolina football fans are eagerly awaiting the next #WelcomeHome tweet to come through their Twitter timelines from head coach Shane Beamer. The customary notification of a Gamecock commitment has been elusive of late with several high-profile South Carolina football targets making pledges to other programs in recent weeks.

Several more priority targets are set to announce their college decisions over the next month or so.

One of these prospects is North Carolina wide receiver Jonathan Paylor. The 4-star speedster has been deciding between South Carolina football and NC State, and North Carolina, Penn State, and Maryland are also involved as those three programs round out his top-5 schools.

On Tuesday, Paylor announced a new date for his commitment.

Originally believed to be committing at the end of July, Paylor now will make his commitment in a ceremony at his high school on August 5th.

For a long time, Paylor was considered to be a heavy lean to make a commitment to the South Carolina football program. Over the last couple of weeks, NC State (generally viewed as the other school in the running for Paylor’s services) has made a major move in his recruitment.

Paylor was originally set to attend the Gamecocks’ big recruiting cookout at the end of July but has since announced that he will be on campus at NC State that weekend. With his commitment ceremony taking place just a week later, that means the Wolfpack will have the last chance to see Paylor before he makes his decision. Priority running back target Daniel Hill also will be skipping the cookout in favor of visiting Alabama.

South Carolina football has one receiver committed so far in the class of 2024. 4-star Mazeo Bennett from Greenville High School (a high school teammate of fellow Gamecock commitment and 4-star offensive lineman Blake Franks) is firm in his commitment to Carolina and is expected to be one of three or more receivers taken in the class.