South Carolina Gamecocks News: Football recruiting, SEC Media Days, baseball recruiting, and more

Here is the latest South Carolina Gamecocks News from last week, starting with a football recruiting update.

South Carolina football priority target Liam Andrews committed to Penn State on Friday, something that had appeared to be in the cards for the past few weeks. The 4-star defensive line prospect had officially named a final-3 of South Carolina, Penn State, and Wisconsin.

4-star safety Malcolm Ziglar elected to stay home for his college career. After some momentum pushed the Gamecocks close to the top of his recruitment (and, reportedly, telling South Carolina players he was committing to USC), Ziglar pledged his services to Mack Brown and the North Carolina Tar Heels.

D’antre Robinson committed to Texas. The big 4-star defensive tackle was a bit of a longshot for South Carolina to bring into the 2024 recruiting class, but the Gamecocks were in his group of finalists.

Big-time wide receiver target Johnathan Paylor announced that he would be announcing his commitment the first week of August and that he would be skipping the big Gamecock recruiting cookout the weekend prior to that in favor of visiting NC State. What was once viewed as a slam dunk recruitment for Shane Beamer’s program is now closer than ever before.

4-star running back Daniel Hill will also not be at the cookout. Hill will be visiting the Alabama Crimson Tide (the other team heavily involved in his recruitment).

Class of 2025 4-star defensive back Jett White announced his top-25 last week, and the Gamecocks made the cut. He was formerly committed to Southern Cal.

Another class of 2025 4-star (EDGE Sharlandiin Strange) announced an early list. South Carolina was included in the top-22 for the Pennsylvania native.

SEC Media Days were last week, and there was a lot of small news that came out of the proceedings in Nashville, Tennessee.

Coach Beamer revealed that every player dealing with injury (other than tackle Jaylen Nichols) is expected to be ready for the start of the season. Linebacker Mo Kaba and EDGE Jordan Strachan are coming off of ACL reconstructions, and starting defensive lineman Tonka Hemingway and 2nd-team offensive lineman Cason Henry had been held out of spring practice.

Shane Beamer had the 2nd-longest opening statement of all the head coaches in the league. This came after he said he would be faster than last season. Coach Beamer also had the 2nd-longest opening statement in 2022.

All-SEC Vanderbilt receiver Will Sheppard said that former Gamecock cornerbacks Cam Smith and Jaycee Horn were some of the toughest corners he ever played against in college.

The media’s All-SEC teams were announced, and six Gamecocks were included:

• Punter Kai Kroeger made the 1st-team.
• Kicker Mitch Jeter made the 1st-team as the kickoff specialist.
• Wide receiver Antwane “Juice” Wells made the 2nd-team.
• Defensive lineman Tonka Hemingway made the 3rd-team.
• Do-it-all playmaker Dakereon Joyner made the 3rd-team as an all-purpose player.
• Tight end Trey Knox made the 3rd-team.

The Gamecocks were picked 3rd in the SEC East. Carolina received a handful of votes to win the division and one to win the entire SEC.

The Gamecock Football program also released its yearly preseason media guide.

The 200+ page guide details tons of information that would be of interest to South Carolina football fans, but updated roster information is near the top of that list. Some of the information in the guide is listed below:

• Incoming freshman 5-star athlete Nyck Harbor is officially on the roster as a wide receiver (he will wear #8), and he is listed at 6’5″ and 241 pounds.
• Presumed starting running back Dakereon Joyner has bulked up to 229 pounds.
• 4-star freshman quarterback LaNorris Sellers is now 245 pounds and will wear #16.
• Freshman All-American safety Nick Emmanwori did not gain weight, officially ending the speculation that he will move to linebacker.
• True freshman defensive tackle Xzavier McLeod has slimmed down to 284 pounds. He will wear #64.
• Transfer defensive lineman Elijah Davis weighs 289 pounds, meaning he is most likely to stay at defensive tackle. He will be #11.
• Transfer tight end Trey Knox has slimmed down to 237 pounds. He will wear #1.
• Senior running back Dante Miller was officially not on the roster as his appeal for an extra year was denied by the NCAA.

South Carolina baseball signee George Wolkow officially will not report to school and will begin his professional career.

Wolkow signed a $1 Million contract with the Chicago White Sox, a number much higher than the $250k number normally seen in the 7th round.

The rest of the South Carolina Gamecocks selected have also signed their professional deals, including all six Gamecocks from last year’s team (Jack Mahoney, Will Sanders, Noah Hall, Braylen Wimmer, James Hicks, and Cade Austin), another high school signee (Raudi Rodriguez), and a new transfer portal addition (Matt Duffy).

The baseball team secured a late commitment from a 2023 pitcher with a lot of promise.

Former Wofford commitment Jake McCoy decommitted from the Terriers after a coaching change and announced over the weekend that he would be enrolling at South Carolina this fall. One of the top-2 left-handed pitchers in the class from the state of South Carolina, McCoy features a low-mid-90s fastball and a heavy breaking ball. He is ranked 500th nationally by Perfect Game.

Speaking of South Carolina baseball commitments…

2024 commits PJ Morlando and Carson Messina will take part in the Team USA U-18 team training camp in August. Both players are expected to make the roster and compete for Team USA. Both players are candidates to be taken early in the 2024 MLB Draft so could decide to skip college altogether.

South Carolina basketball stars Aja Wilson, Aliyah Boston, and Allisha Gray were included in ESPN’s top-25 WNBA player power rankings.

Wilson (2), Boston (14), and Gray (19) were all 2023 All-Stars.

The University of South Carolina Athletics Department announced its 8-person class for the 2023 South Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame induction.

The eight honorees include:

• Football’s Ernest Dye
• Baseball’s Wallie Jones
• Women’s Basketball’s Shaun Gortman
• Softball’s Kim Pietro
• Swimming and Diving’s Allison Brennan
• Men’s Golf’s Eric Ecker
• Women’s Track and Field’s Demetria Washington
• Men’s Tennis’ Chris Mayotte

The University of South Carolina fans proved themselves to be among the best in the country.

2022 attendance numbers show the Gamecocks as one of just six programs (along with Nebraska, Tennessee, Texas, Arkansas, and Kentucky) to have top-40 attendance numbers in football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball, and softball.

The Gamecocks are also one of only four programs (along with Arkansas, Texas, and Tennessee) to be in the top-21 in attendance for each of these sports.