South Carolina Football: Gamecocks make top list for elite linebacker prospect

South Carolina football has an incoming freshman running back named Matthew Fuller. Fuller is a 4-star prospect from Wayne County High School in Jesup, Georgia, and he put up one of the most impressive seasons of any player in the talent-rich Peach State in 2023.

One of his high school teammates is one of the top prospects in the state of Georgia for the '25 cycle.

Tavion Wallace, a 4-star linebacker prospect ranked as high as 26th in the country (247Sports), has the makings of a future star at the college level. Wallace is interested in the South Carolina football program, and that interest translated into the Gamecocks making his top-12 list on Thursday.

Wallace's top-12 also includes the Missouri Tigers, Michigan Wolverines, Georgia Bulldogs, Florida Gators, Arkansas Razorbacks, Auburn Tigers, Kentucky Wildcats, LSU Tigers, Auburn Tigers, Louisville Cardinals, Tennessee Volunteers, and Florida State Seminoles.

Wallace has special movement ability for a player around 220 pounds. As a sprinter on the Wayne County track team, he has run sub-11 times in the 100-meter dash, and that speed translates onto the gridiron. He also weaves through traffic (and blockers) with ease.

On film, Wallace seems to get most of his snaps as a traditional linebacker, but he also has some experience as a stand-up rusher off of the edge. When blitzing or getting after the quarterback, it's as if Wallace was shot out of a cannon. He has good instincts for leaving his curl-to-flat assignment in coverage to come up and pressure a scrambling quarterback. Wallace is a tackling machine against the run, but he is also athletic enough to play out in coverage at times.

South Carolina is considered one of the favorites to land Wallace, but the Georgia Bulldogs and Florida State Seminoles will be hard to beat for the South Georgia product.

You can watch some of his film here.