re: 2015 South Carolina Football Recruiting Thread

Will Arnett commit today or tomorrow? Or am I getting way ahead of myself.

Looks like Arnette will commit tmrw and Jaire Alexander might, too.

RB recruiting has really come into focus with Turner, Scarlett, and Bradrick Shaw looking like takes. Just depends on who is ready to pull the trigger first.

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Class of 2014 defensive end signee Jhaustin Thomas of Atlanta and Trinity Valley (Texas) Junior College will not have the grades to be able to enroll at South Carolina this fall, a source confirmed to The State.

Not sure if he'll get another chance next year or not.

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The way it sounded, pretty sure he is done. He didn't get nearly as close as they were told he would and he just doesn't have it between the ears for D1 academics - it's a real shame. Hopefully he'll be able to stick around somewhere and work on his skills enough to get a shot at free agency in the NFL in a couple of years. He's a damn hard worker and he has serious football skills. I was sure hoping he was going to make it.

He committed in what, the Fall of 2011, signed in Feb 2012, has been trying to make the grades since and he just hasn't been able to get there ... but not for lack of trying.

I was told he's like 6-6.5 now and pushing 270 and killing it on the football field.

I was over at and around the stadium most of the weekend. Got waaaaay liquored-up Thursday night at a party over behind the Stadium. Had to sit through some meetings Friday and listen to some of Dr. Pastides people talk about new stuff going on with the University - all good stuff - Dr. Pastides is getting it done on all levels. ... but man oh man was I hungover.

Got through that then got to watch some of the camp stuff going on over at the stadium Friday and yesterday. Got to see some prospects getting shown around - couple of what looked like good looking DLine prospects maybe, one was there with his parents and Deke was showing them around. It's hard to tell their positions anymore - I'll explain in a minute.

Our camps are unreal these days and bring in some good young prospects from all over, but I really think they were concentrating on something like four or five in particular this weekend - and it appeared to be mostly for visits. But the camps are neat to watch. There were some HS underclassmen there for the future for sure.

I was over at Bojangles grabbing some hangover food later in the afternoon (Friday) and talked to one of the campers - forgive me for not remembering his name, I don't fawn over them at fast food places so the conversation was brief and casual and he was sort of quiet when he said he name and my brain was hurting - but he was a nice kid. About an inch taller than me, I'd say 6'4", hair like Clowney's, slender build I'd say maybe 200-210ish. I'm thinking future DE right? ... he laughs, says, "no sir, I'm a receiver." So I ask, "Tight end?" He says, no sir, a receiver." Hands the size of first baseman's glove. Very well spoken and polite, just quiet.

The whole operation is just so professional these days. I gotta give it to Speronis and the assistant coaches in charge. Not crazy about that smug bastard, but he's got the camps running like a well-oiled machine. They've got a system and it is working.

Wish I had more to share. They didn't really let any of us mingle and the coaches were too busy to get them aside long enough for anything that might be earth shattering.

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I think we will end up with 2 RBs this year. I think we've got a good shot with Williams, Turner, and Scarlett. Shaw likes us too, but he's from Alabama, and he's been offered by Alabama.

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I've read that Bama has offered Shaw for defense, not as a RB. They go for higher-rated RBs. It will depend on how much Shaw wanted to play RB, and if he wants it enough to leave his state and play for someone other than Alabama...

Damon Arnette. Sounds like he's announcing tonight. This tweet is from yesterday, and Kornbutt wrote that it may be tonight.


Sleeper Athletes @SleeperAthletes · 18h

#StThomasAquinas HS (FL) 3-star DB Damon Arnette (@da_arnette) will decide between #Kentucky & #SouthCarolina tomorrow

TBS says we'll take one more corner in addition to Arnette assuming he announces for us this evening.

Octavis Johnson just committed per Rivals (Chris Clark)

Wow, that was surprising to me. We're loading up fast on DBs....

HOWEVER....



We DO get a commitment tonight, although it was unexpected. No, it's not Octavius Johnson, although that was a surprise:

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Wes Mitchell ?@WesMitchell247 15m

Class of 2015 three-star TE Connor Redmond (Lawrenceville, Ga./Archer) has committed to South Carolina. LINK …

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Chris Clark ?@GCChrisClark 5m

Georgia TE Connor Redmond has committed to the #Gamecocks as well.

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So that's THREE commitments for today!

Still on the board:

QB: -
RB: AJ Turner, Bradrick Shaw, Ty'Son Williams, Jordan Scarlett
OL: Zack Bailey, Jalen Merrick, Brandon Sandifer, Christian Pellage
TE: -
WR: Irvin Charles, Jerad Washington (?)

DE: Dante Sawyer (JUCO), Marquavius Lewis (JUCO)
DT: Darian Roseboro, DJ Jones (JUCO)
LB: Davon Durant (JUCO)
DB: Jalen Thompson, Damon Arnette, Carlton Davis, Mike Hughes

Current commits Fields, Clark, & Alexander are EEs. That leaves us w/ the potential to take 10 more. I think we definitely take:

2 RB
2 OL
2 DE
1 DT
1 DB

That's 8 spots. So that leaves 2 for some combo of DB/WR/DT/LB. I don't know if Davon Durant is a take anymore; we may be through at LB.