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In their last big recruiting event of the summer, Will Muschamp and the rest of South Carolina Gamecocks football staff will be aiming to leave lasting impressions on a number of high-profile prospects.
The Friday festivities are already underway, with the coaches leading recruits through drills in an intense camp setting. Saturday will be a little more relaxed at the SpursUp cookout, which is meant to simply be a day of fun and relationship building between prospects, commits and players.
Key attendees
Some of the bigger names visiting Columbia this weekend are linebackers Dax Hollifield and Channing Tindall, wide-receiver Josh Vann and defensive tackle Rick Sandidge. All are top priorities for the current class.
Vann’s visit is of especial importance, as this will likely be his final college visit before he makes a decision sometime in August. He has been back and forth between South Carolina and Georgia for a while now and will have been on both campuses three times after this weekend. He seems to have a pattern of leaving each campus with that team leading, so USC may have lucked out getting the last visit.
The Gamecocks will also be hoping to make a strong impression on safety Israel Mukuamu. The three-star prospect is scheduled to decide on July 24th between Florida State, Indiana, Oklahoma and USC. Right now it’s everyone chasing FSU, but a lot tends to change when recruits get on campus. It’s fitting that South Carolina will have the last opportunity to sway Mukuamu, as they were the first to offer him last summer.
A few other attendees worth mentioning are three-star defensive backs Steven Gilmore and Bryce Thompson, three-star defensive end Kingsley Enagbare and four-star defensive tackle Jordan Davis. Gilmore and Thompson are both USC-leans who will be announcing in the next two months. Enagbare and Davis are two guys the Gamecocks are on the fringes with right now, but I could see the staff making a stronger push for them in the coming months.
From the class of 2019, running back Kendrell Flowers, wide receiver Jamario Holley, defensive end Zacch Pickens, offensive guard Keiondre Jones and athlete J.R. Walker are a few names to keep an eye on. Flowers is an Irmo product whose name I keep seeing brought up as a potential national prospect, while Pickens and Holley are already two of the top players in South Carolina at their respective positions.
Notable absentees
4-star cornerback Jaycee Horn and 4-star offensive tackle Dylan Wonnum are two recruits Muschamp would have undoubtedly liked to get to Columbia.
Horn is visiting Tennessee this weekend to check out campus. There were some rumors that he would also make it Alabama, but those turned out to be untrue. It’s unclear why Wonnum was not able to attend, but he gets to Columbia fairly often to visit his brother Dennis. He’s also expected to take some official visits and South Carolina should be one of them.
Commit watch
We’re more likely to see a slew of offers go out this weekend than a slew of commits, but three-star wide receiver Tyquan Johnson could be one to pull the trigger. He said in an interview with Phil Kornblut earlier this week that, “It’s a chance,” but his family had to see the campus and meet the coaches first.
Below is the complete list of recruits from the 2018 and 2019 classes who have confirmed that they will be in Columbia this weekend. All star rankings are per 247Sports Composite and bold font indicates a current commit.
Friday Camp
Dax Hollifield | 4-star ILB | 2018
Josh Vann | 4-star WR | 2018
Rick Sandidge | 4-star DT | 2018
Israel Mukuamu | 3-star S | 2018
Bryce Thompson | 3-star WR/DB | 2018
Griffin O’Connor | 3-star QB | 2018
Kingsley Enagbare | 3-star SDE | 2018
RJ Roderick | 3-star S | 2018
Darius Rush | 3-star WR | 2018
Ernest Jones | 3-star OLB | 2018
Lavonte Valentine | 3-star RB | 2018
Jaydon Brunson | 2-star CB | 2018
Antonio Anderson | WDE | 2018
Jamario Holley | 4-star WR | 2019
Davis Beville | QB | 2019
DJ Chisolm | ATH | 2019
Storm Duck | CB | 2019
Kendrell Flowers | RB | 2019
Derrian Brown | RB | 2019
Jamious Griffin | RB | 2019
Tysheik Galloway | DT | 2019
Ahdarrious Gee | ILB | 2019
Jalen Perry | CB | 2019
Mario Kendricks | SDE | 2019
Zonovan Knight | RB | 2019
Reece McIntyre | OT | 2019
Harry Miller | OT | 2019
Carlantre Morrison | ATH | 2019
Dervon Pesnell | WR | 2019
Jammie Robinson | ATH | 2019
Dariyan Wiley | ATH | 2019
Deonte Stanley | ATH | 2019
Saturday Spurs Up Day
Channing Tindall | 4-star OLB | 2018
Jordan Davis | 4-star DT | 2018
Rick Sandidge | 4-star DT | 2018
Josh Vann | 4-star WR | 2018
Dakereon Joyner | 4-star DUAL QB | 2018
Dantrell Barkley | 3-star DT | 2018
Lamarius Benson | 3-star OT | 2018
Wyatt Campbell | 3-star OT | 2018
Jesus Gibbs | 3-star OT | 2018
Steven Gilmore | 3-star CB | 2018
Jonathon Gipson | 3-star CB | 2018
JaKorey Hawkins | 3-star CB | 2018
Tyquan Johnson | 3-star WR | 2018
Ernest Jones | 3-star OLB | 2018
Hank Manos | 3-star C | 2018
Raiqwon O’Neal | 3-star DL | 2018
RJ Roderick | 3-star S | 2018
Darius Rush | 3-star WR | 2018
Bryce Thomspon | 3-star WR/DB | 2018
Lavonte Valentine | 3-star RB | 2018
Zacch Pickens | 5-star DE | 2019
Keiondre Jones | 4-star OG | 2019
J.R. Walker | 4-star ATH | 2019
Andrew Booth | CB | 2019
Ahdarrious Gee | ILB | 2019
Kamren McCray | OT | 2019
Jalen Perry | CB | 2019
Jammie Robinson | ATH | 2019
Traveon Freshwater | OLB | 2019