4-star South Carolina football target makes college commitment

In the world of recruiting, some prospect battles come down to the wire, and no one but the recruit seems to know where he will end up by the time announcement day comes. Others, though, seem pretty straightforward. The latter was the case on Friday when it came time for South Carolina football target JaDon Blair to make his college decision public.

The Gamecocks and several other programs recruited Blair hard, and though his final list had ten teams on it, and he had taken seven official visits, it came as a surprise to no one that the talented defensive back wound up donning a Notre Dame Fighting Irish hat (after a couple of pump fakes at the expense of the Penn State Nittany Lions and Michigan Wolverines).

Blair was one of several big-time safety prospects that South Carolina football defensive backs coach Torrian Gray had been recruiting.

Earlier this cycle, the Gamecocks landed a commitment from in-state safety Damarcus Leach, and the Abbeville native has seen his stock rise since that commitment as he is now a 4-star in ESPN's rankings. Chris Hatfield (3-star who is rated by some outlets as a safety and by others as a corner) and Jaquel Holman (3-star athlete) could wind up at the safety position, as well.

However, even with those three players committed, Carolina seems interested in bringing in another safety in the class. They recently just missed on Blair and AJ Brand (who will play quarterback at Virginia Tech), but they are still very much involved with Lagonza Hayward and Kendall Daniels, two 4-star safeties from Georgia and Virginia, respectively. 4-star Jontae Gilbert is still in the picture, as well, but it is unclear if the Gamecocks like him at corner or safety.

Both Hayward and Daniels have mentioned they would like to make their announcements this summer, and Hayward has set his commitment date for July 27th.