South Carolina suffered its second decommitment from the 2024 football recruiting class when tackle Mike Williams of Upper Marlboro, Md., took to Twitter and announced his withdrawal of the pledge made on April 19.
At that time, Williams chose the Gamecocks over Virginia Tech, Michigan State and Tennessee.
“After further consideration I would like to announce that I will be decommiting from the University of South Carolina and re-opening my recruitment. Thank you to all the coaches at the University of South Carolina,” Williams posted on his Twitter account.
Williams was one of four highly regarded offensive line commitments for the USC 2024 class. He picked up an offer from N.C. State last week after announcing his decommitment. His defection leaves the Gamecocks with nine commitments in the class. He joins CB Karson Hobbs as decommitments from the class. Hobbs committed last July and decommitted in November, and eventually committed to Notre Dame.
On the trail
• Clemson is bringing in its A-list of recruits this weekend, with numerous top prospects in the 2024 class set to arrive on campus.
One of those is a priority target on the offensive line who recently placed the Tigers among his top schools.
Tackle Fletcher Westphal (6-8, 330) announced a top five on April 30, placing Clemson in a group that also included Georgia, Auburn, Arkansas, and Florida. Westphal will hit the road for a busy month, with visits planned to Clemson, Georgia, Florida and Arkansas.
• South Carolina was one of the first major offers for safety Jarvis Boatwright (6-1, 175) of Clearwater, Fla., and the early interest paid to him by secondary coach Torrian Gray and head coach Shane Beamer paid off.
Boatwright included the Gamecocks in his top five and he will commence his official visits with a stop in Columbia on June 9. Boatwright also has official visits set with Southern Cal, Tennessee and Florida State in June. He plans to make a commitment on August 11. “The next four to five weeks will play a big role,” he said. “Not favoring one. They all are up there, so I’m just trying to figure out which one is the best.”
• Two of the most popular players in the modern history of USC football are twin linebackers Jasper and Casper Brinkley. The brothers from Thomson, Ga., came to USC from Georgia Military JC and were impact players in Columbia before going to the NFL. They are now in the trucking business in Katy, Texas, and Jasper has a son who is a major prospect.
Dakyus (Dak) Brinkley (6-4, 225) is a defensive end with offers from Texas, Texas Tech, Houston, Oregon, Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Purdue, SMU, TCU and Texas A&M.
New USC defensive line coach Travian Robertson, who was a teammate of the Brinkley twins with the Gamecocks, has been in touch with the younger Brinkley. The plan is for him to visit this summer and display his talents in front of Robertson, defensive ends coach Sterling Lucas and head coach Shane Beamer.
“I’m still in the middle of choosing the date and finalizing, but my pop said we’ll try to be there in the summer for a camp for sure,” Brinkley said. “They want to get me down there to a camp and see me in person and see how I look. It hasn’t been anything official, set in stone yet. I started talking to South Carolina the middle of my junior year. They sent me a couple of camp dates.”
• USC secondary coach Torian Gray recently offered CB Chasen Johnson (6-1, 180) of Sanford, Fla., and he has quickly become one of Johnson’s favorite recruiters. Johnson also has offers from Pitt, West Virginia, Florida State, Illinois, Louisville, Iowa State, Oregon State, UCF, Cincinnati and Indiana among others.
Gray has established his recruiting turf with Johnson and their relationship figures to grow stronger over the next few weeks. “It’s been going good. I’ve got an official visit with them the first weekend in June,” Johnson said. “The relationship with Coach Gray has been good. He hits me up and lets me know about the school all the time and tells me how I could fit there as a corner. He likes my athleticism, physicality and my length. He likes that I can press up.”
• USC quarterbacks coach Dowell Loggains offered three quarterbacks in the 2025 class, two on the national level and one on the local level.
Loggains joined the large group of quarterback recruiters to offer Ryan Montgomery (6-3, 212) of Findlay, Ohio. The offer came a day after Loggains watched Montgomery throw at his high school. Montgomery visited USC in the spring. Some of his other offers are Ohio State, Texas A&M, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Purdue, Vanderbilt, Miami, Washington, Cincinnati, Louisville and Colorado. Clemson is also showing extensive interest and Montgomery could land an offer from the Tigers when they start making 2025 offers on June 1.
Also getting an offer Thursday from Loggains was Deuce Knight (6-4, 190) of Lucedale, Miss. Knight visited USC for the spring game in April. Knight named a top ten of USC, Tennessee, Georgia, Auburn, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, TCU, Washington, Oregon and Notre Dame.
Last season, Knight passed for 1929 yards and 11 touchdowns and rushed for 488 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Loggains also offered Richland Northeast quarterback Will Wilson. Wilson is a quick climber in the recruiting world after passing for 1,800 yards and 14 touchdowns last season. He also has offers from Arkansas, Duke, Penn State, NC State, Coastal Carolina, James Madison, Virginia Tech, Appalachian State, Cincinnati, TCU and S.C. State.
Loggains didn’t stop with the 2025 class when it came to offers last week. He also offered 2026 Landon Duckworth of Jackson, Ala., and 2026 Jared Curtis of Nashville.
Notes
• USC QB commitment Dante Reno made the Elite 11 Finals roster … USC is in the top eight with OL/DL Liam Andrews of Brookline, Mass. The others are Penn State, Wisconsin, LSU, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Miami and Florida. And Southern Cal just offered.
• OT Michael Uini of Copperas Cove, Texas, named a top six of Clemson, Georgia, Michigan, Alabama, Texas and Florida. He visited Clemson for a junior day in March. He has official visits set with Clemson followed by Florida, Michigan, Alabama and Georgia.
• OT Ronan O’Connell (6-5, 275) of Franklin, Tenn., named a top three of Clemson, Wisconsin and Tennessee. He visited Clemson on April 5. He also visited Tennessee in March. Some of his other offers are Auburn, Michigan State, Kansas, Ole Miss, Virginia Tech, Pitt and Texas Tech.
• Clemson offered DE Dominic Nichols of Oakdale, Md. He has official visits set with Wisconsin, Michigan and Kentucky the first three weekends in June, and already has visited Clemson. He also made visits this spring to Georgia, Virginia Tech, Michigan, Rutgers and West Virginia.
• Clemson target CB Ashton Hampton of Tallahassee was offered by LSU and Syracuse. He has an official visit set with Clemson for June 2 … Clemson target DE Jeremiah Beaman of Birmingham committed to Alabama.
• Clemson target SAF KJ Bolden visited Georgia two weekends back for the Bulldog’s scavenger hunt recruiting event. He has an official visit with Clemson set for June 2, followed by visits to Georgia, Ohio State and Alabama in June, and one to Auburn in late September …DE DD Holmes of Washington, D.C., has USC in his top six along with Florida State, Michigan, Maryland, Florida and Rutgers.
• WR Jonathan Paylor has switched his official visit for this weekend from Clemson to North Carolina. His other visits remain unchanged: Maryland June 9, N.C. State June 16 and USC June 23 … USC target LB Elijah Newby was offered by Alabama. He has an official visit set with USC for June 9.
• RB Braylen Russell has set an official visit with USC for June 2. He also has visits set with Baylor, Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas A&M. Russell has not yet visited the Gamecocks, but he was recruited by new offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains when he was at Arkansas.
• WR/CB Jalewis Solomon of Ellaville, Ga., has official visits set with USC June 2 and Florida State June 23 … USC target RB Matthew Fuller (6-0, 210) of Jessup, Ga., has added offers this month from UCF, USF, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, UAB, Iowa State, Coastal Carolina and Minnesota. He has an official set with USC for June 9.
• USC target RB Anthony Carrie has set officials to Notre Dame, North Carolina and Michigan State in June … USC running back target Peyton Lewis of Salem, Va., committed to Tennessee Saturday.
• DT Nnamdi Ogboko of Garner, N.C., has set his official visit with USC for June 9. He will visit Rutgers this weekend and Florida June 16. He’s also looking at N.C. State, Georgia and Michigan for visits. He also visited USC in March … USC target DE Justin Greene was offered by Alabama. He’s had USC, Georgia, Auburn and LSU as his top four.
• DE KingJoseph Edwards of Hoschton, Ga., said last week one sure official visit will be to South Carolina. Edwards visited last season for the Texas A&M game. He also visited USC in March for a spring practice and for the spring game in April. Edwards said other definite official visits for him will be to Ohio State, Alabama, Tennessee and Southern Cal.
• USC target DE Dylan Stewart has set an official visit with Miami for June 9. He has Georgia June 2, Ohio State June 16 and USC June 23 … New USC offers went out to 2025 SAF Keon Young of Lakeland, Fla.; and 2026 CB Xavier Lherisse (5-11, 180) of Melbourne, Fla.
• Greenville High OT Julius Tate committed to Northwestern … 2025 Richland Northeast QB Will Wilson was offered by James Madison … 2026 QB Mason Holtzclaw is transferring from Wren to Christ School in Arden, N.C. … Former Lake City HS and East Carolina defensive end Ja’Maurion Franklin is transferring to St. Andrews.
• Former TL Hanna DL Stephon Wynn Jr. is transferring to Ole Miss. He started his career at Alabama before transferring to Nebraska … Former USC SAF Shilo Sanders will follow his father Deion and transfer to Colorado from Jackson State.
Basketball News
• 6-2 Elijah Crawford of Legacy Early College in Greenville has set official visits with Boston College June 11 and USC June 25, per Jamie Shaw of On3 … Lexington guard Cam Scott was offered by Southern Cal … 6-2 Rayquan Dowdle of Gaffney committed to S.C. State.
• Furman added Lee University transfer 6-0 PJay Smith Jr. He started all 28 games for Lee as a sophomore in 2022-23 and averaged 15.8 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game. He also paced the Flames with 47 steals, shot 44.8% from three-point range, and connected on a team-best 83.5% of his free throw attempts to help Lee to a 20-8 overall record and 18-6 mark in Gulf South Conference play.
• Three former in-state high school basketball standouts have found new college homes. CJ Felder of Sumter, who began his career at Boston College before transferring to Florida, is transferring to McNeese State. Raekwon Horton of Keenan is transferring from the College of Charleston to James Madison. And Cesare Edwards of Hartsville is transferring from Xavier to Missouri State.
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