South Carolina Football: Elite 4-star receiver makes his college decision
By Kevin Miller
![South Carolina football Head Coach Shane Beamer and his team continue to be doubted despite improving every season. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape%2Fcover%2Fsport%2F1de6675713d7ede3758bd41631575942384d69798469e4e1e26e7fc76e0e12da.jpg "South Carolina football Head Coach Shane Beamer and his team continue to be doubted despite improving every season. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]")
South Carolina football is in the middle of a big weekend for the future of the program. Three big-time players are set to announce their college decisions on Friday and Saturday.
On Friday, class of 2026 quarterback Landon Duckworth is set to announce his college decision later in the evening, and the Gamecocks have to turn around quickly for another announcement from 4-star defensive back Jalewis Solomon who is slated to make his public commitment on Saturday.
But first, around dinnertime on Friday, a commitment decision came from speedy 4-star wide receiver Jonathan Paylor. Paylor was long considered a heavy lean to pick South Carolina football, but recent months saw things shift more in favor of the NC State Wolfpack.
The Under Armour All-American announced the decision that had become obvious when he made his public commitment to Dave Doeren and the NC State football program.
BREAKING: NC State has landed a commitment from Top247 athlete Jonathan Paylor (@jonathan_paylor) in the 2024 class! Paylor is the No. 2 player in NC and a Top 10 athlete in the 247Sports Composite Rankings!
— Pack Pride (@PackPride) August 4, 2023
Full story from @BrianDohn247: https://t.co/vsIUqy3h6V pic.twitter.com/i53P91VDi5
Paylor chose NC State over South Carolina and North Carolina and, to a lesser extent, Penn State and Maryland.
Not landing Paylor is a blow to South Carolina football’s efforts to replace at least four players from the wide receiver room who will be gone after the 2023 season (Juice Wells, Xavier Legette, Ahmarean Brown, and Eddie Lewis). Dakereon Joyner (a former receiver) and pass-catching tight end Trey Knox also will have graduated.
The Gamecocks have received commitments in the class of 2024 from 4-star wideouts Mazeo Bennett and Zy’marion Lang (who could end up playing in the secondary), but they were expected to take at least three players at the wide receiver position this cycle. Virginia Tech commitment Keylen Adams is still a target for wide receiver coach Justin Stepp.
It is unclear who the Gamecocks might target at the receiver position if they are not able to flip Paylor or Adams. However, the roster has a lot of young talent at both receiver and tight end, and the transfer portal makes filling roster holes a much quicker effort than it once was.
The Gamecocks now turn their attention to Landon Duckworth’s announcement at 9:00 PM on Friday and Jalewis Solomon’s decision set for Saturday.