Former South Carolina pledge flips to new school, joins former Gamecock OC

Back in October, South Carolina football lost a member of its 2026 recruiting class when four-star tight end Jamel Howse backed off his pledge to the Gamecocks. Howse, who had been committed to USC for about a year, went public with comments expressing his desire to play in an offense where he felt he could get the ball more often.

On Sunday, Howse announced that he had completed a flip to a new program. He revealed his commitment to the Appalachian State Mountaineers on social media.

Howse will reunite with Dowell Loggains, now the head coach at App State, who was the offensive coordinator in Columbia at the time of his initial commitment. Howse took an official visit to Boone in October.

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Following his decommitment from South Carolina, Howse didn’t receive much interest from power conference programs. The Newberry (SC) product has also seen his standing in the recruiting industry fall. He is now a three-star recruit, according to both Rivals and 247Sports. Even so, he is the highest-rated player in the App State class.

The Gamecocks have another tight end remaining in their projected ’26 recruiting haul. Rivals four-star Caden Ramsey, a fellow Palmetto State native from Cross High School, committed in September. He has publicly reaffirmed his status as a future Gamecock, saying he is locked in with USC.

Even without Howse and recent decommit Amari Thomas in the boat, South Carolina owns the No. 16 overall recruiting class in the 2026 cycle, according to the Rivals Industry Rankings. That is eighth in the SEC.

The Gamecocks are also 11th nationally in average player ranking. That number is sixth in the Southeastern Conference. Carolina is one of just two programs (along with Auburn) to rank in the top 35 nationally with fewer than 15 commits in the class.

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