South Carolina five-star OL signee Josiah Thompson making early impression at All-American Bowl
It hasn’t taken long for Dillon (S.C.) five-star offensive tackle and South Carolina signee Josiah Thompson to make his presence felt at the first practice for the 2024 All-American Bowl.
Not surprisingly, Thompson was named by On3 as one of the top practice performers after Day 1, checking in at No. 3 on the East squad.
Josiah Thompson entered the All-American Bowl as the top-ranked offensive lineman on hand and looked the part on Tuesday. The South Carolina pledge has leaned out to around 6-foot-6.5, 265 pounds, but showed surprising core strength and anchor in 1-on-1s. Thompson locked horns with five-star Florida defensive line signee LJ McCray on numerous occasions and got the edge in the best-on-best matchup. In addition to the play strength, Thompson showed a light-footed, coordinated pass set – something we rarely see from offensive tackles in this setting. There’s no doubt he’ll need time to fill out, but the Dillon (S.C.) High product played to his top-10 ranking on Tuesday. – Charles Power
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Thompson, ranked the No. 2 offensive tackle in the country by On3, is considered the No. 9 overall prospect in his class by the company.
“It’s an honor to be invited, it’s an honor to be committed there,” Thompson told GamecockCentral a couple of weeks ago. “It’s gonna be great playing with the best players around the country. I just like that competition. It’s gonna be there. And that’s what I’m waiting for.”
The 2024 All-American Bowl is set for a 1 p.m. kickoff on January 6, 2024, from the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas with NBC and Peacock carrying the action.
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After playing in the game on Saturday, Thompson will head to Columbia to enroll for the spring semester.
“It feels amazing, coming to the point where I actually chose where I wanted to be, where I wanted to wake up every morning and feel great, because that’s where I wanted to be,” Thompson said. “I just made a commitment (and stuck with it) and I’m just ready to start working, and that’s about it.”
