South Carolina Football: Gamecock flip target cancels visit, shuts down recruitment

The top-20 recruiting class headed to Columbia is a few prospects away from being ranked firmly in the top-15 as the Gamecocks’ average recruit rating is already in the top-15 nationally. South Carolina football fans were hoping that Shane Beamer and company could pull off a trifecta of recruiting “flips” to help move their 2024 recruiting class from good to great.

Defensive end Kameryn Fountain, wide receiver Braylon Staley, and defensive back Quaysheed Scott are committed to Southern Cal, Tennessee, and Kentucky, respectively, but a late push from the Gamecocks gave Carolina fans hope that all three of the big-time recruits could end up in garnet and black when the recruiting process is complete.

As of now, it doesn’t look like the three potential flips will be joining 5-star talents Josiah Thompson and Dylan Stewart as Gamecocks of the future..

Recently, Fountain told SportsTalk’s Phil Kornblut that he would be sticking with his Southern Cal commitment. On Friday, Staley held a mock signing ceremony in which he “signed” with Tennessee in front of some family and friends (Early Signing Day is still 10 days away). Then, on Sunday, Scott announced that he was done considering the Gamecocks, as well.

The Gamecocks appear to be going 0/3 on their major flip targets. Both Fountain and Scott were viewed as highly likely to flip as recently as the last month. Both Scott and Staley are South Carolina natives who didn’t receive Gamecocks offers until far too late into their recruitments.

The overall efforts in the ’24 class have been good, but (likely) missing on all three of Fountain, Staley, and Scott hurts. The three 4-star prospects all received heavy attention from the South Carolina football coaching staff recently, and both Staley and Fountain play major positions of need as the Gamecocks have significant roster holes at receiver and EDGE, both on next year’s team and in the future.

South Carolina football (along with every other program in the country) will sign the majority of their recruiting class during the Early Signing Period that begins December 20th.