South Carolina football recruiting: Gamecocks look to hold on to Jamyest Williams, Hamsah Nasirildeen; offer star DE Stacy Kirby

Unbelievably, we are a week and a half from National Signing Day. With not long to go before February 1, Will Muschamp is looking to keep a hold of who he has right now, as well as add some missing pieces to the 2017 class.

Williams preps for UGA OV

Jamyest Williams’ recruitment has come under the microscope a little in recent weeks. The fact that he’s taking an official visit to Georgia this weekend isn’t really news in and of itself, but some of the things he’s said has led some Gamecocks fans to think that he’s ready to flip to Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs.

One of those things is in relation to a “commitment ceremony” he’s planning for National Signing Day on February 1, where he’ll officially announce where he is attending college. Some wonder why Williams is holding one at all if he’s planning to go to South Carolina in the first place.

Williams committed to South Carolina on August 27 and will take his final official visit to Columbia next weekend. As recently as a few weeks ago, he has affirmed that he is indeed honoring his pledge to Will Muschamp and the program. While this could all be nothing to worry about in the end, Gamecocks fans won’t rest easy until they get word that his NLI has safely made it into the South Carolina football office on February 1. But it would be a huge blow to the class if they were to lose him.

Nasirildeen being recruited heavily by Florida State; Johnson pursuit coming down to the wire

Phil Kornblut at SportsTalk is reporting that Concord (N.C.) LB Hamsah Nasirildeen continues to be a heavy target for Florida State. One thing that works in the favor of the Seminoles is the fact that Jay Graham (yes, that Jay Graham), the team’s running backs coach and Nasirildeen’s primary recruiter at FSU, is an alumni of Concord and attended while current head coach Glen Padgett was an assistant in the early ‘90s. Kornblut reports that Graham was back home to check on Nasirildeen earlier in the week.

Meanwhile, Coleman Hutzler will be in to see DE Brad Johnson today, per Kornblut, while Muschamp will head over to Pendleton, SC, for an in-home at some point next week. Kornblut spoke with Johnson’s coach, Paul Sutherland, who said Johnson was “torn” between the Gamecocks and Virginia Tech. Johnson was in for an official visit last weekend.

Light weekend for official visits

Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images

This weekend won’t be as busy as last weekend when it comes to official visits. South Carolina is currently set to have two recruits in: WR commit Chad Terrell and JUCO cornerback Mike Hughes. Hughes is the country’s #4 junior college CB and was formerly at North Carolina in 2015, attending at the same time as current Gamecocks RB Ty’son Williams. He took an OV to East Carolina back in October. Despite playing corner in college, Williams was a versatile athlete at New Bern High School in North Carolina, rushing for 22 touchdowns and over 1300 yards, passing for 1,263 yards and 10 more TDs through the air, and even seeing time as a punter.

Gamecocks offer big-time Florida DE Stacy Kirby

Student Sports

The Gamecocks extended offers to a host of recruits from Orlando (Fla.) Jones, with the most notable going to big-time DE Stacy Kirby, the #8 weakside defensive end in the class of 2018. Kirby now has 23 offers from the likes of Florida State, Miami (Fla.), Auburn, Florida, Ohio State, and various others, and while it might be a long shot to land him, South Carolina has put themselves in the mix for now.

Several of Kirby’s teammates were offered as well: 2019 OT Cameron Vaughn (his second); 2018 DE Jaylen Joyner (his 6th); and 2018 cornerbacks Imani Partlow (his second) and Sevyn Banks (his eighth).