Ngakoue reportedly eliminates South Carolina, leaving two uncommitted Gamecock targets

Though Jonathan Walton seemingly made every effort to bury the news of his commitment to South Carolina by announcing it during the Super Bowl via Twitter, it does indeed appear as though he will be a part of the Gamecocks' 2013 signing class. Yannick Ngakoue, on the other hand, is reported to have eliminated USC from consideration and is expected to decide between the hometown Maryland Terrapins and Florida State.

With Walton in and Ngakoue out, where do the the Gamecocks stand as they look to wrap up the 2013 recruiting cycle?

Remaining Targets

Keith Bryant, 4 stars, 183rd overall, 21st defensive tackle*

The buzz coming from Tallahassee is that the Seminoles are very confident about landing the Delray Beach native, but Bryant is a kid who has embraced chaos for its own sake at times during his recruitment and, when he takes the podium on Wednesday, could just as easily end up putting on a Miami Hurricane hat or a South Carolina Gamecock hat or an Idaho Vandal hat or discover that his body has been acting as a host for an extraterrestrial parasite.

Decision timetable: National Signing Day
Completely unscientific approximation of the probability that Bryant will sign with South Carolina: 40% (-5%)

Skai Moore, 3 stars, 385th overall, 28th outside linebacker

Where Keith Bryant has been fascinating and eccentric, Skai Moore has handled the process in a manner that is much more relatable to a sports blogger like myself: low key and introverted. Despite the cryptic manner in which Moore has conducted himself, the consensus among recruiting analysts is that Moore is a lean to pick the Gamecocks on Signing Day.

Decision timetable: National Signing Day
Completely unscientific approximation of the probability that Moore will sign with South Carolina: 65% (+15%)

The Committed Guy We Could Still Get But Probably Not

Tyrell Lyons, 3 stars, 467th overall, 39th outside linebacker

Publicly, Lyons still hasn't made a "final" decision about where he will play his college ball despite maintaining a commitment to Florida State. When you're looking to flip a prospect from a perennial power this close to Signing Day, no news is bad news - and there hasn't been much news on the Tyrell Lyons front since his official to Columbia a week and a half ago.

Decision timetable: National Signing Day
Completely unscientific approximation of the probability that Lyons will sign with South Carolina: 10% (-20%)

Best Case Scenario?

USC has room to take just two more, so the best case scenario for the remainder of the 2013 recruiting class is that the Gamecocks retain all current commitments while adding Skai Moore and Keith Bryant. As indicated above, Moore seems a much better bet than Bryant, but @SportsTalkSC seems to have a source that is a bit more optimistic about South Carolina's chances of landing both of the Florida prospects:

Source familiar with Moore and Bryant tells us Monday night USC's chances for both increased during the day Monday to about 70%

— SportsTalk (@sportstalksc) February 5, 2013

Adding Moore as an OLB would add some nice linebacking depth in the class to go along with blue chip OLB/SPUR Larenz Bryant, SPUR Mohammed Camara, ILB Gerald Turner, and ILB Jonathan Walton. It might even come close to making Gamecock fans forget the heartache of losing Matt Rolin to Florida. (Ah, who am I kidding? Will anything ever accomplish that?)

At defensive tackle, there's an opportunity for immediate playing time in relief of Kelcy Quarles and J.T. Surratt this fall, so adding Keith Bryant on top of Kelsey Griffin would be a nice step toward solidifying some depth along the defensive line and provide some competition for Deon Green, Gerald Dixon, Jr. (still not totally sure which one), and Phillip Dukes.

*All rankings and ratings per the 247Sports Composite recruiting index