South Carolina Football: Major 5-star Gamecock targets named All-Americans

South Carolina football signed eight high school products this week who have been selected to national All-American games. 

5-star EDGE Dylan Stewart, 4-star quarterback Dante Reno, 4-star offensive tackle Kam Pringle, 4-star athlete Jalewis Solomon, 3-star wide receiver Debron Gatling, and 5-star kicker/punter Mason Love will play in the Under Armour All-American Game. 5-star offensive tackle Josiah Thompson and 4-star linebacker/EDGE Fred “JayR” Johnson will play in the All-American Bowl.

The Gamecocks are also in on 4-star running back Daniel Hill who will be playing in the All-American Bowl, but South Carolina football is not expected to be his final destination.

This week, two future Gamecock targets received a different All-American honor.

MaxPreps, one of the national leaders in high school football coverage, named three juniors to their 2023 All-American squad (along with 51 seniors), and two of the younger players are major South Carolina football recruits.

David Sanders and Elijah Griffin, both consensus top-5 prospects in the class of 2025 according to all four major recruiting outlets, were among the juniors honored.

Sanders is the consensus top offensive tackle in the class and is ranked as the nation’s best player by Rivals. He is an elite athlete for the position and is believed to have a favorite group that includes South Carolina, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State, North Carolina, and Alabama.

Griffin is the consensus top defensive tackle in the ‘25 cycle and has been ranked as high as #1-overall at times during the process. Like Sanders, he might be the best combination of size and athleticism at his position in the class. South Carolina and Georgia have stood out as the favorites for Griffin, but Clemson and other programs could be factors.

Though neither player is an in-state prospect (Sanders is from Charlotte, North Carolina and Griffin is from Savannah, Georgia), the University of South Carolina is the closest Power-5 school to both. Columbia is about 50 miles closer to Charlotte than Clemson, South Carolina and the North Carolina triangle of Chapel Hill (North Carolina), Durham (Duke), and Raleigh (NC State). Savannah is also about 30 miles closer to Columbia than Athens, Georgia and 50 miles closer to Columbia than Gainesville, Florida.

You can watch some of Sanders’ film here.

You can watch some of Griffin’s film here.