South Carolina football has had an unfortunate run of recruiting news over the last couple of weeks. Major 4-star high school targets like Braylen Russell (Arkansas), Keylen Adams (Virginia Tech), Malcolm Ziglar (North Carolina), DD Holmes (Florida State), Parker Livingstone (Texas), Nasir Johnson (Florida), and Kaj Sanders (Rutgers) all made public pledges to other schools.
Some additional priority targets like Jonathan Paylor (4-star wide receiver) and Daniel Hill (4-star running back) have also announced that they would be visiting other schools instead of being at the big Gamecock recruiting cookout at the end of July, despite both players making their commitments shortly after the weekend.
Paylor will be visiting the other school believed to be in his top-2 (NC State), while Hill also will be at his other favorite school (Alabama).
The tough stretch continued on Friday as 4-star lineman Liam Andrews announced his commitment to another program.
https://twitter.com/PennStateRivals/status/1682407997765562371?s=20
In a small ceremony, Andrews announced his pledge to coach James Franklin and the Penn State Nittany Lions. He chose Penn State over South Carolina and Wisconsin.
As a player, Andrews is rated as a 4-star interior offensive lineman (top-101 in the nation by both On3 and 247Sports), but he is pursuing a collegiate career as a defensive lineman. He is believed to be set to play a hybrid defensive end/defensive tackle role. Both South Carolina football and Penn State were recruiting Andrews as a defensive lineman.
The Gamecocks do not have any current commitments at either defensive end or defensive tackle. Both South Carolina football commitments at linebacker (4-stars Wendell Gregory and Fred Johnson) are bigger linebackers who have experience rushing the passer.
5-star Dylan Stewart (EDGE), 4-star KingJoseph Edwards (EDGE/TE), and 3-star D’Nas White (DT) are three remaining Gamecock targets on the defensive line. Other names likely will emerge in the fall recruiting period.