South Carolina Football: #WelcomeHome; Who could be the mystery commitment?

South Carolina football fans didn’t have a great Saturday. With the state fair in town, the traffic around Williams-Brice Stadium was horrible, and the weather was dreary and overcast. Oh, yeah, and the Gamecocks lost to the Florida Gators in yet another horrible defensive performance.

On Sunday, while many USC fans were still licking the wounds on their fingers created by firing off dozens of angry texts and tweets about defensive players and coaches, the South Carolina football coaching staff continued to work.

Late in the morning, head coach Shane Beamer put out his patented #WelcomeHome tweet, signifying that a prospect just let the coaching staff know that he was committed to the South Carolina football program.

Beamer’s message does very little to ease the pain of the Gamecocks likely missing out on a bowl game this season, but it does offer a little hope for the future. The tweet mentioned that the commitment comes from a player who was on campus this weekend, and it included the hashtag #24evertothee, meaning that the pledge comes from the class of 2024.

A number of players were on campus this weekend, but many of them were from future classes. Some of the biggest names to be in Columbia from the class of 2024 were 4-star Southern Cal commitment Kameryn Fountain and 4-star Jalewis Solomon who just decommitted from Auburn last week.

Both Fountain and Solomon were on “flip watch,” speculation that only ramped up after Fountain and Solomon announced they would be visiting this weekend and even more so when Solomon backed off of his pledge to Auburn.

South Carolina football fans who were discouraged by Saturday’s showing on defense will be happy to know that Fountain and Solomon are both big-time players on that side of the ball.

Fountain is an elite EDGE player from Georgia who is ranked inside the top-100 players nationally by several recruiting services.

Nothing specific has been reported on Fountain’s visit, but the Atlanta native is expected to take a few more visits, and the Gamecocks are firmly in the mix.

Also from Georgia, Solomon is an athlete who excels as a wide receiver and defensive back. The majority of his recruitment has seemed to be focused on his skills as a corner where he is ranked inside the top-100 by Rivals.

In an interview with SportsTalk’s Phil Kornblut, Solomon would not say whether or not he was the #WelcomeHome but did indicate he plans to make his announcement soon. He added that the Gamecocks are “number one” and that he has no further visits lined up in the near future.

It is important to note that there were other players on campus this weekend from the class of 2024, but Fountain and Solomon were just the most high profile and

Not counting this latest commitment, the Gamecocks have fifteen prospects pledged to the South Carolina football program so far in the class of 2024. USC is ranked in the top-20 in the recruiting rankings and could slide up a spot or two when the commitment is officially announced.