South Carolina is starting to heat up on the 2028 recruiting trail. Because the dead period starts in just a few weeks, the Gamecocks are hard at work both offering prospects and visiting with talented guys.
The Gamecock coaching staff recently extended an offer to one of the top rated running backs in the 2028 class, to four-star tailback Zaiden Jernigan. The running back is a four-star prospect rated by 247Sports.
The 247Sports composite ranks Jernigan as the No. 2 overall running back in his class, and the No. 1 overall prospect coming out of the state of Mississippi. Jernigan plays out of Louisville high school in Mississippi, and he is rated as the 51st nationally-ranked prospect in his class.
Jernigan confirmed the offer from the Gamecock coaching staff on his social media page, tagging several coaches directly:
Blessed to receive another offer from @GamecockFB‼️ #AGTG🙏🏽@StanDrayton_ @DarrenUscher @bnm_nil @warrenbarreiro @LHSWildcats_FB @Coach_PBake @MacCorleone74 @shayhodge3 @LawrencHopkins @ReggieBuchanan @ChadSimmons_ @adamgorney @TomLoy247 @TheUCReport pic.twitter.com/HLUkluKDUq
— zaiden jernigan (@zaiden_6) May 30, 2026
As you can imagine, the talented running back has offers from a number of big-time schools, including South Carolina. The Mississippi product already holds offers from Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio State, Ole Miss and Texas A&M, to name a few.
South Carolina has offered just four other running backs from the class of 2028, so the staff obviously thinks highly of the Mississippi back. We'll see if the Gamecocks offering Jernigan early in his recruiting process can play a role in South Carolina remaining strong in contention.
The Gamecocks do not yet have a verbal commit in its 2028 class, since it is so early within the cycle.
Jernigan will likely see more power-conference offers come his way if things continue the way they are.
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