South Carolina Gamecocks news from the last week, including updates from football, basketball, and baseball

The latest South Carolina Gamecocks news from the last week, starting with an update from the world of recruiting

In-state 4-star wide receiver Malik Clark shocked the recruiting world with a commitment to the Florida State Seminoles. He had been considered a lean to the Gamecocks ahead of his announcement.

South Carolina football recruiting target Lagonza Hayward surprisingly eliminated the Gamecocks from his top list and then committed to the Tennessee Volunteers.

3-star wide receiver Giyahni Kontosis committed to the Cincinnati Bearcats. USC was a finalist but never seemed to be in the picture.

4-star Columbia product Onis Konanbanny eliminated the Gamecocks, naming a top-2 of the Tennessee Volunteers and the Florida State Seminoles.

Former Mississippi State and Georgia Military College wide receiver Ruben Jackson is joining the South Carolina football program as a walk-on.

A Gamecock defender was named a top-5 NFL Draft prospect.

Pro Football Focus has ranked defensive lineman TJ Sanders as the #5 defensive tackle in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Two former Gamecocks are taking over a Palmetto State high school program.

Eric Brown, a linebacker who played in Columbia in the 1990s, is the new head coach at St. John's High School. He hired former Gamecock running back Cory Boyd to be his offensive coordinator.

A Gamecock legend will now be an SEC Legend.

Former EDGE/linebacker Corey Miller is the South Carolina Gamecocks' representative in the SEC Legends class of 2024.

A former South Carolina basketball star had a great summer.

GG Jackson played in the NBA Summer League and was selected to the 1st Team All-Summer League squad. His Memphis Grizzlies team played in the Summer League championship.

A pair of 5-star prospects named the Gamecocks among their favorite schools.

Aaliyah Chavez, the #1-ranked player in the class of 2025, included South Carolina basketball in her top-6.

Jayla Jordyn Jackson, a versatile player ranked in the top-10 of the class of 2026, named USC as one of her top-16 schools.

Dawn Staley's team has scheduled yet another tough out-of-conference game.

The TCU Horned Frogs will host the Gamecocks in December. The game will not be played on TCU's campus but will be played at a larger arena in Fort Worth, Texas.

A South Carolina baseball commitment is backing off from his pledge to the Gamecocks.

Charlie Meglio, who committed to USC out of the transfer portal from the Campbell Fighting Camels, is expected to return to Campbell next season.

Paul Mainieri has rounded out his coaching staff.

The Gamecocks have a new director of player development. Chris Gordon (who most recently worked for the Texas Longhorns) will serve in the uber-important off-field job.

South Carolina baseball had a fair amount of professional news.

All six drafted Gamecocks (Cole Messina, Eli Jones, and Garrett Gainey from the 2024 team and PJ Morlando, Brandon Clarke, and Carson Messina from the 2024 recruiting class) signed MLB deals.

Chris Veach signed a contract with the New York Yankees.

Jackie Bradley, Jr. is back in MLB, inking a deal with the New York Mets after a strong independent season with the Long Island Ducks.

Whit Merrifield signed with the Atlanta Braves shortly after being released by the Philadelphia Phillies.

Dalton Reeves (Lincoln Saltdogs) and Ty Good (Florence Y'alls) signed contracts with independent professional teams.

Ethan Petry had a big week.

Early in the week, Petry was named a top-5 2025 MLB Draft prospect by D1Baseball.

Then, later in the week, Petry was named a Cape Cod Baseball League All-Star and won the CCBL Home Run Derby.

Gamecock baseball was positioned favorably in an offseason poll.

Baseball America released their offseason way-too-early top-25 for the 2025 season, and South Carolina baseball slotted in at #17.

The South Carolina Gamecocks athletics department filled their major hole.

After Chance Miller left to become the AD at Coastal Carolina earlier this summer, Ray Tanner was left without a right-hand man. Now, that role has been filled by the hire of Jeff Crane. Crane most recently served as the interim athletics director for the Memphis Tigers (he was the associate athletics director before filling that role), and he worked for the University of South Carolina in various roles from 2006 to 2019.

The NCAA announced some major changes.

The roster sizes and scholarship counts of a bunch of NCAA varsity sports are changing. Most notably for the Gamecocks, football will have 105 scholarship roster spots, men's basketball will shift to 15 scholarships, and baseball (finally) has 34 scholarships instead of 11.7.

Title IX considerations mean that a slew of women's sports received an uptick in scholarships, as well.

A full breakdown of the scholarship changes can be seen here.