Gamecock football recruiting news: Sherrod Pittman plans to enroll early

Sharrod Pittman expects to enroll early

South Carolina's 2014 recruiting class ended up consisting of just 15 players, so the Gamecocks have a lot of room to count back 2015 signees to the year prior. Four-star linebacker commitment Sherrod Pittman has a chance to be one of those. While these types of things can change, Pittman's plan is to enroll at South Carolina in the winter semester.

That's great news for three reasons:

1. If he enrolls in January, it becomes much less likely that he will play football somewhere other than South Carolina.
2. As previously mentioned, USC can count his scholarship back to 2014, giving the Gamecocks more breathing room to stay under the SEC-mandated cap of 25 signees.
3. Pittman can get an extra semester of practice under his belt and potentially be ready to make an impact as a true freshman.

Gamecocks have connection to Evander Holyfield's son

You know Evander Holyfield? The famous boxer guy who went and got his ear bitten off and so forth? Turns out he has a son who's pretty good at sports -- football, specifically. Elijah Holyfield of Woodward Academy in Atlanta, Ga. is a four-star running back prospect.

Several schools have already offered but Holyfield wants to remain patient during the recruiting process. He wants to see what happens with USC, Georgia, Alabama and Auburn. Holyfield said that USC has not contacted him recently but he does expect to hear from them soon.

"They told me they were interested in recruiting me," he said. "They told me they would come back by to see me during the season so, we’ll see what happens." Holyfield is interested in the Gamecocks and has eyes in the program.

"One of my teammates is there now," Holyfield said. ‘It’s pretty cool to see Terry Googer there. He can tell me what it’s like from the inside. I went to the Clemson (USC) game with him last year and it was pretty intense."

At 5'11, 200 pounds, Holyfield is the 20th-ranked running back and the No. 211 overall prospect in the 2016 class, according to the 247Sports Composite index. Only three 247Sports Crystal Ball predictions have been made for Holyfield so far: two for Ohio State, one for Michigan. South Carolina has yet to extend an offer.

Despite FSU commitment, Jones still considering South Carolina

Four-star defensive tackle D.J. Jones surprised just about everyone when he committed to Florida State during a visit to Tallahassee in July. At the time, it seemed like South Carolina still had a very good chance to work their way back into the mix. As of this week, that still seems to be the case.

Wednesday night he said he’s far from finished with recruiting. Jones said he was on the phone Tuesday with his recruiters from USC and Clemson and he will take official visits to both.  He has set his visit with USC for the Georgia weekend September 13th. His date for the Clemson visit has not been determined.

Asked to qualify the strength of his commitment to Florida State, Jones said:  "About medium.  Still trying to feel some teams out, including FSU."

Uh-huh.

Caban expects to have decision by next week

LB Amonte Caban of Smiths Station, AL said earlier this week he might have his decision made by Wednesday. Well, Wednesday has come and gone and Caban has not made his decision.

"I have a lot of great opportunities and options in front of me," Caban said.  "I want to be sure that I am deciding on the best fit for me both athletically and academically.  The plan is to be in a better position to make a decision by tomorrow (Thursday) but my verbal may not come until next week."

The 6'2, 210-pound linebacker is the 12th-ranked inside linebacker and the No. 421 overall prospect in the 2015 class, according to the 247Sports Composite index. Nine out of ten predictions in the 247Sports Crystall Ball have been made in favor of South Carolina.