South Carolina trending for 4-star ATH Jalewis Solomon following Auburn decommitment
One of the top athletes in the 2024 cycle came back on the board on Oct. 10, as Ellaville (Ga.) Schley County four-star Jalewis Solomon decommitted from Auburn.
“It came down to me making a decision pretty early,” Solomon told On3. “I rushed it and I just wasn’t ready when I committed. I have been thinking about this for a while and I just have to take some time and do what is best for myself. Auburn did nothing wrong, but I just had a change of heart.”
In the lead-up to Solomon’s decision, it was South Carolina that was trending for the 6-foot, 185-pounder. Now, the Gamecocks find themselves in a similar position once again. According to the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM), South Carolina has a big chance to land Solomon’s pledge at 72.8%.
“I think if he wants to make a decision fairly soon, then South Carolina has to feel really, really good about where they sit,” GamecockCentral’s Wes Mitchell told On3’s Josh Newberg on The Inside Scoop.
“It was down to the wire when he made his original decision We thought leading up to it — i’m talking 30-45 minutes before the decision — that it was gonna be South Carolina. It ends up being Auburn. We pretty quickly started hearing ‘hey, this is not over. South Carolina’s still in it. Keep tracking this guy.'”
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Solomon is scheduled to return to Columbia for a game visit with the Gamecocks this weekend when they host Florida, according to On3’s Chad Simmons. It will be his fifth documented trip and his first since an official visit and June and an unofficial at the end of July.
It’s unclear who else will try and re-involve themselves in the race for Solomon, but Florida State was one of the programs that was firmly in the mix ahead of his commitment to Auburn. He also made plenty of stops by Florida and Georgia along the way while taking additional June OVs to Kentucky and Texas A&M.
“It came down to Auburn and South Carolina. Prior to that, it felt like it was Florida State and South Carolina, then Auburn made this late push. I’ll be curious to see, are there some other schools that now hit him up again, does Florida State get back involved, not sure as of right now, it really just feels like it’s South Carolina against everybody else,” Mitchell said.
South Carolina’s 2024 recruiting class currently features 15 commitments and ranks No. 19 in the nation, per the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Ranking. Three top-100 prospects highlight Shane Beamer’s pledge list: Washington DC Friendship Collegiate Academy Five-Star Plus+ EDGE Dylan Stewart, Dillon (S.C.) four-star offensive tackle Josiah Thompson and Dorchester (S.C.) Woodland four-star OT Kam Pringle.