South Carolina football has put together one of the top offensive line recruiting classes in the nation in 2024. 4-star (potential 5-star) Josiah Thompson, 4-star Kam Pringle, and 4-star Blake Franks are all firm commitments to the Gamecocks and new offensive line coach Lonnie Teasley.
“The Great Wall of Columbia,” as they have been dubbed, is an elite group. Thompson and Pringle are both tackles (ranked as the top-2 in the nation), while Franks is likely an interior player in college, but all three have the potential to become high-level players who start for multiple years and earn their way to the NFL.
Amazingly, the Gamecocks might not be done adding elite blocking talent to the class.
South Carolina football is firmly in the mix for a few more players up front and appears to be interested in adding another lineman to the class. One of the players they seem to like the most is Washington DC native (yes, another Gamecock target from the DMV) Jordan Seaton. He is playing his senior season at IMG Academy in Florida.
Seaton is a consensus 4-star player who could get the bump to 5-star territory by On3 as he is ranked inside the top-30 nationally. He is a tackle in high school, an extremely good one, but he has enough crossover traits that he can slide inside at the next level if that is what he is needed to do. In fact, Rivals has him ranked as a guard.
On Friday night, during IMG’s game, On3’s CEO Shannon Terry tweeted out some high praise for the big man.
77 for IMG one of the best High School OL I've seen live in years
— Shannon Terry (@ShannonTerry) August 19, 2023
Shannon Terry has seen a lot of football over the years, so for him to refer to Seaton as “one of the best” lineman prospects he’s seen in years is a big deal. The kid is legit, and the Gamecocks are hopeful they can land his services.
Though he is a senior, Seaton has not narrowed his recruitment much. He has an official visit to Columbia scheduled for this fall, but he has also shown tremendous interest in a number of other programs such as Alabama, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Georgia, Florida, Florida State, LSU, and Miami.
If South Carolina football could somehow land Seaton, no one would have to worry about ranking which offensive line class was the best in the country in 2024. The Gamecocks would be the undisputed winners of that honor, and future Carolina quarterbacks and running backs would reap great benefits.
You can watch some of his film here.