After J.P. Vonashek committed earlier in the weekend, South Carolina picked up another OL commitment, this time from Tyrone, Ga./Sandy Creek OG Alan Knott. Knott is the 17th pledge Carolina has taken in this class, as well as the fourth OL. Knott joins OT D.J. Park, C Bryce King, and OT J.P. Vonashek in what looks to be Steve Spurrier's best OL class at Carolina, particularly if Spurrier can close out with highly rated prospects OT Na'Ty Rodgers and OG Tyrone Crowder.
247 Sports has Knott as a three-star prospect with a rating of 87. The site rates him as the nation's 27th guard prospect and as Georgia's 58th prospect overall. His major offers included Virginia Tech, Miami, Louisville, South Florida, and North Carolina. He was also drawing some interest from bigger fish, such as Auburn, Georgia, and FSU, although none of those schools had offered.
Barring a rash of injuries, Knott will undoubtedly redshirt this coming season, but after that point, he will have opportunities to work himself into the rotation. A.J. Cann is likely to start at his guard spot for the remainder of his career, and Ronald Patrick has also set himself apart from the competition, but past that, we need guards, with most of the guys behind Cann and Patrick (Kaleb Broome, Kenny Davis, etc.) being question marks for the time being.
One thing I liked while reading about Knott's commitment was this tidbit from our newest Gamecock: "I called Coach Elliott to tell him the news. He was very excited. I'd say he was as excited as I was when I made the call. That was really cool." I love reading this kind of thing. You have to imagine that Elliott is impressive to recruits. He's brings a great combination of excitement and reputation to the conversation, and, undoubtedly, that has a lot to do with our current recruiting success at his position.