South Carolina Football: Elite offensive lineman puts Gamecocks in top group

In back to back seasons, the South Carolina football team has signed two of the best offensive line classes in program history.

In the 2023 cycle, 4-star players like Markee Anderson, Tree Babalade, and Trovon Baugh and high-upside 3-star Jatavius Shivers all inked with the garnet and black.

This past week, the class of 2024's offensive line group (all from the state of South Carolina) signed as 5-star Josiah Thompson and 4-star prospects Kam Pringle and Blake Franks joined the program.

South Carolina football offensive line coach Lonnie Teasley is hoping to keep the momentum going in the 2025 recruiting class. Several big-time talents are considering the Gamecocks, and one of those players made a USC-related announcement on Friday.

Chauncey Gooden, a 4-star interior lineman from Nashville, Tennessee, announced his top-10 schools on Friday. South Carolina, Clemson, Georgia, Oregon, Michigan, Tennessee, Auburn, Missouri, Colorado, and Oklahoma made the top group for the talented Lipscomb High School product.

Coming in at 6'4" and 315 pounds, Gooden is a top-11 interior lineman in the country according to three of the four major recruiting services, and he is violent. When engaged with a defender, his feet continue to move until he has driven his man into the group. When in space, he seeks out victims to destroy.

There is not much film available of Gooden in pass protection, so he likely will need some extra coaching to be ready for big-time college football as a pass blocker. However, if his strong hands and athleticism are any indication, he will develop well in that regard.

Gooden is also a better athlete than a lot of 300+ pound players. He shows some of this in a unique way as he has gotten some short-yardage carries for the Lipscomb Mustangs and will sometimes line up in the backfield as an h-back or as a personal protector.

While his future is as an offensive lineman in college, he also plays on the defensive line in high school as a run-stuffing defensive tackle.

You can watch some of his film here.