Before most Gamecocks woke up on Monday morning, four-star offensive lineman from Summerville Zack Bailey made sure that Carolina fans would start this work week on the right foot:

Just committed to the South Carolina GamesCocks. Time to start a new family.

— Zackary Bailey (@ZackaryDBailey) August 11, 2025

Aside from some slight capitalization errors in the nickname - and really, we're more than happy to exchange that spelling for his commitment - the tweet read as well as one can for the Gamecock faithful.

Bailey held offers from most major programs around the southeast, including Florida, Florida State, Auburn, Georgia, and Miami. However, the Lowcountry product apparently focused his mind early on to the two in-state schools - Clemson and South Carolina. While the battle seemed back-and-forth at times, the end result never seemed particularly in doubt - 247Sports.com's Crystal Ball feature was 100% for the Gamecocks as of this morning.

Bailey becomes the 27th member of the 2015 class, now rated 4th in the nation according to 247Sports.com's composite ratings, which average the ratings across multiple systems. Unfortunately for the Gamecocks, that still leaves them third in their own conference and second in their own state, as Alabama, Texas A&M;, and Clemson hold down the top three spots.

That minor quibble aside, the commitment still keeps Carolina on pace to sign its best class ever in 2015.