Bye week check-in on South Carolina's place in 2026 recruiting rankings

This week, South Carolina football commitment Landon Duckworth announced that he was shutting down his recruitment. The four-star quarterback will be a Gamecock next year.

With Duckworth’s future set, South Carolina has five top-100 national prospects pledged. Four of them have publicly ended their recruitments, and the other has seemingly never wavered, either. That is good news with the Early Signing Period coming in less than a month.

Let’s take a look at South Carolina football recruiting and its place in the team recruiting rankings and the individual rankings of the players committed in the class of 2026 at the time of this writing. Several other Gamecock targets should announce college decisions soon, so the rankings could change again in the coming weeks.

*All rankings will come from the Rivals Industry Ranking, a weighted composite from the rankings from Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN*

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In total, the Gamecocks have 15 players committed in the 2026 cycle. Even so, Carolina ranks 17th nationally, the best mark for any team in the country with fewer than 17 commits. Shane Beamer’s team is also No. 8 in the Southeastern Conference.

Based on those rankings, it should come as no surprise that South Carolina is positioned well on a per-player basis. As things stand, the Gamecocks’ class is No. 13 in all of college football in average player ranking. Of the 16 teams ahead of USC in the overall rankings, seven of them have at least 25 players committed.

Last year, the Gamecocks landed the No. 18 class in the country, the program’s third-straight top 20 group. The 2025 class also ranked No. 11 in the SEC. With several uncommitted targets and flip candidates still on South Carolina’s board, a fourth-straight top 20 class feels inevitable, and the Gamecocks’ spots in the rankings could be better than last year.

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OL Darius Gray
No. 35 overall
No. 1 nationally among interior offensive linemen
No. 2 in Virginia
Four-star in Rivals Industry Ranking

The top player committed to South Carolina in the 2026 cycle is Gray. A Rivals Industry Ranking four-star, he also boasts a five-star ranking from another major recruiting outlet. Gray might be the most athletic offensive lineman in the country.

DT Aiden Harris
No. 79 overall
No. 6 nationally among defensive linemen
No. 5 in North Carolina
Four-star in Rivals Industry Ranking

Prior to Darius Gray’s announcement, Harris was the highest-rated commit in the Rivals Industry Ranking. He is a consensus four-star prospect and ranks as a top-10 defensive lineman according to both Rivals and 247Sports. He fills a big South Carolina position of need at defensive tackle.

QB Landon Duckworth
No. 87 overall
No. 8 nationally among quarterbacks
No. 5 in Alabama
Four-star in Rivals Industry Ranking

Duckworth was the first commitment in South Carolina’s 2026 class long ago. Now, after a winding road that included a decommitment, he is back in the fold and recently shut his recruitment down. A consensus four-star prospect, he is considered a top 10 national quarterback by all three major recruiting services. He is the second highest-rated player in the class, according to both 247Sports and ESPN.

S J’Zavien Currence
No. 91 overall
No. 9 nationally among safeties
No. 2 in South Carolina
Four-star in Rivals Industry Ranking

Though he plays all over the field for South Pointe High School (including at quarterback), Currence will be a defensive back for South Carolina. He is a consensus four-star prospect.

OL Zyon Guiles
No. 176 overall
No. 12 nationally among interior offensive linemen
No. 4 in South Carolina
Four-star in Rivals Industry Ranking

Rivals’ player rankings have Guiles right on the verge of five-star territory as he is the highest-rated committed player in the Rivals300 and the No. 1 overall interior offensive lineman in the country. Guiles is also a consensus four-star prospect. Together with Darius Gray, the duo are the No. 1 and No. 2 interior blockers in the 2026 Rivals300.

WR Sequel Patterson
No. 243 overall
No. 40 nationally among wide receivers
No. 5 in South Carolina
Four-star in Rivals Industry Ranking

A reclassification from the class of 2027, Patterson could have been a four-star prospect at wide receiver or cornerback. He will play receiver for the Gamecocks. Before his reclassification, he was a top 100 prospect in the Rivals Industry Ranking for the ’27 cycle.

DT Noah Clark
No. 327 overall
No. 35 nationally among defensive linemen
No. 16 in North Carolina
Four-star in Rivals Industry Ranking

Clark ranks as high as 132nd nationally according to another outlet’s four-star evaluation. The big fella will be a nose tackle for South Carolina, filling a major need on the USC roster.

EDGE/LB Andrew Harris
No. 359 overall
No. 38 nationally among EDGE players
No. 17 in North Carolina
Four-star in Rivals Industry Ranking

South Carolina likes Harris at linebacker, rather than EDGE. If his recruiting rating didn’t change, he would rank as the No. 25 linebacker nationally. As things stand, he is a four-star according to one major recruiting outlet.

RB Amari Thomas
No. 442 overall
No. 28 nationally among running backs
No. 61 in Florida
Three-star in Rivals Industry Ranking

Thomas committed to South Carolina this summer, completing a flip from Florida State. Though he is a three-star in the industry ranking, he is a four-star recruit according to the Rivals300 player rankings.

DB KJ Johnson
No. 475 overall
No. 45 nationally among cornerbacks
No. 18 in Alabama
Three-star in Rivals Industry Ranking

South Carolina’s coaching staff believes Johnson could play corner, safety, or nickel at the next level. He is a consensus three-star prospect but is just one recruiting point away from four-star status according to two services.

LB Keenan Britt
No. 552 overall
No. 45 nationally among linebackers
No. 19 in Alabama
Three-star in Rivals Industry Ranking

Previously listed as an EDGE, Britt will join the Gamecocks as a linebacker. One recruiting service considers him a four-star player (at EDGE) in the 2026 cycle.

CB Kosci Barnes
No. 603 overall
No. 58 nationally among cornerbacks
No. 26 in North Carolina
Three-star in Rivals Industry Ranking

Barnes is the prototypical Torrian Gray defensive back, standing at 6-2 and weighing 185 pounds. Though he will begin his career at corner, he could see reps at safety or nickel, too.

ATH/DB Triston Lewis
No. 771 overall
No. 21 nationally among athletes
No. 14 in South Carolina
Three-star in Rivals Industry Ranking

Lewis, a high school quarterback, earned a Gamecock offer and committed on the same day. At 6-4 and 200 pounds, he is an intriguing prospect who likely will be a defensive back for South Carolina.

TE Caden Ramsey
No. 940 overall
No. 59 nationally among tight ends
No. 17 in South Carolina
Three-star in Rivals Industry Ranking

Ramsey is a “Rivals outlier,” meaning that Rivals is much higher on him than the rest of the recruiting industry. He is now a four-star recruit, but his industry ranking is weighed down by a low ranking from ESPN and a wide receiver designation on 247Sports.

OL Anthony Baxter
No. 1394 overall
No. 134 nationally among interior offensive linemen
No. 25 in South Carolina
Three-star in Rivals Industry Ranking

Baxter, a high school teammate of J’Zavien Currence, is a consensus three-star prospect and the longest-tenured pledge in the class.

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