Crootin’ Notebook: Ronnie Jamison and Ahdarrious Gee on committing to South Carolina

Will Muschamp and the South Carolina Gamecocks ended the summer with their largest recruiting event yet, hosting over 600 student athletes throughout Friday and Saturday.

The weekend was an overall success, with the staff extending a slew of offers and receiving four verbal commitments. Wide receiver Tyquan Johnson, offensive lineman Jesus Gibbs and linebacker Ahdarrious Gee announced their decisions to play for South Carolina on Saturday, while receiver Ronnie Jamison made his on Sunday, merely two days after receiving an offer at Friday’s camp.

“The experience I had down there this weekend was great. The coaches and people were great,” Jamison told Garnet & Black Attack. “The reason I committed so early was because USC was always the dream school. Also the relationship I have with Coach [Bryan] McClendon is great.”

In addition to realizing a childhood dream, Jamison also saw an opportunity to make an early impact.

“Coach Muschamp expressed to me that I would be able to come in and play immediately. Ya know, obviously if I’m working hard.”

Garnet & Black Attack was also able to speak with Ahdarrious Gee, who became the first member of the Gamecocks’ 2019 class on Saturday.

On his decision to commit early, Gee said, “I feel at home here at South Carolina already. I like the program, the education level, and the type of defense they run really suits me.”

As an unranked prospect (even though he believes he should be), Gee is an unknown quantity to most fans at this point. To describe his playing style at the linebacker position, he said, “When I’m on the field I get to the ball very fast and I’m very physical.” Gee’s statistics from last season to corroborate with that statement - he averaged just under 15 tackles a game as a sophomore.

Over the weekend he spoke mostly with linebackers coaches Mike Peterson and Coach Hutzler. Gee said they did not have any grand message they tried to sell him. “They just like the way I play and told me to stick with it.”

Weekend notes:

I reported on Friday that 4-star tackle Dylan Wonnum would not make it to Columbia over the weekend, but he was actually on campus Saturday for the SpursUp Cookout. Wonnum told TheBigSpur the visit went well, but that all his top schools were still equal.

Two-way lineman Raiqwon O’Neal out of Conway has emerged from the weekend as a name to watch. He reportedly had a great visit and is very high on the Gamecocks. It is my understanding that he is being recruited primarily as a defensive tackle, but I’ve seen multiple times that he has the potential to be good on the offensive line as well. O’Neal has an August decision planned.

4-star prospects Rick Sandidge and Josh Vann were both on campus Friday and Saturday. Sandidge’s mother is a South Carolina alum and has been very outspoken on social media about where she wants her son to go, but ultimately it is up to him. He told GamecockCentral.com that following the visit, “My feelings for them got a little higher.”

Vann’s recruitment has been neck-and-neck between USC and Georgia for a while now, but he told TheBigSpur that this weekend was likely his last visit before he commits. He is eyeing an early season decision.

Safety Jonathan Gipson released a top seven with the Gamecocks on top late in June. At Saturday’s cookout he confirmed to GamecockCentral.com that South Carolina continues to be his leader, and he still plans to commit somewhere by the end of the month.

After watching his highlights and doing a bit of digging, I am convinced that Ronnie Jamison was just a great eval on an under-recruited prospect. He appears to have all the tools to be very successful at the D1 level and could end up being looked back on as a serious steal in the 2018 class.

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t end with this quote from Jamison:

“Also, a message to Gamecock nation - let’s keep the Sandstorm Rocking!”