Crootin’ Notebook: South Carolina prospects prepare to commit

Over the course of the next week, a handful of highly-touted prospects considering the South Carolina Gamecocks will announce their college decisions.

Three-star linebacker Rosendo Louis (Deerfield, Fla.) will commit to either Miami, Florida State, Arkansas, South Carolina or Oklahoma at 7:30 on Tuesday evening. Louis was considered a Gamecock lean throughout the spring, but since he pushed back his original May decision date, Florida State has overtaken USC as the team to beat.

With 94% of the 247Crystal Ball predictions in their favor, the Seminoles are the heavy favorites to land Louis. He would become FSU’s second linebacker commit for 2018, which could be significant for South Carolina when you consider that two of their other top targets at the position (Channing Tindall and Dax Hollifield) are also considering Florida State.

Three-star two-way lineman Raiqwon O’Neal (Conway, S.C.) will announce his college decision Wednesday afternoon at 6:00 live on WPDE-TV 15 in Myrtle Beach. South Carolina, Rutgers and Maryland are in O’Neals final schools. He was offered by the Gamecocks as an defensive lineman after impressing the coaching staff on campus this summer.

247Crystal Ball has the 6-foot-5 lineman trending 60% towards Rutgers, where he is being recruited to play on the offensive side of the ball. O’Neal told Phil Kornblut on Monday that his commitment would be firm and he would take no outside official visits.

Four-star edge rusher Azeez Ojulari (Marietta, Ga.) plans to commit sometime on Thursday. Ojulari’s recruitment has been fairly quiet, and there is not a whole lot of reason to expect him to end up with the Gamecocks, but they are in his final group of six with Clemson, Florida, Auburn, Georgia and Tennessee.

To be fair, Ojulari has declined to name any leaders out of his final group throughout the process, but 91% of 247Crystal Ball predictions have him choosing Georgia.

To cap the week off, four-star wide-receiver Josh Vann (Tucker, Ga.) has plans to end the summer-long battle between Georgia and South Carolina for his services. Vann told Phil Kornblut on Monday that he may commit as soon as Saturday, after his first football game at the new Georgia State stadium. At the latest he plans to announce on Monday afternoon.

100% of 247Crystal Ball predictions have Vann committing to the Gamecocks, and there has been no evidence suggesting otherwise. He has said multiple times since his last visit to Columbia that South Carolina holds the edge for him.

Provided he commits, Vann is a talented addition at a position of need. It would also be a significant recruiting win over Georgia, who have really prioritized him for a while now.