South Carolina landed Julian Walker despite Michigan commitment and North Carolina's Bill Belichick "throwing money at him"

Last week, South Carolina pulled off one of the biggest flips around Signing Day. Four-star EDGE Julian Walker inked with the Gamecocks. Formerly a Michigan commitment, Walker chose USC over the Wolverines and a desperate push from the North Carolina Tar Heels.

The flip came two days before Walker and his Dutch Fork Silver Foxes squad claimed another 5A Division-I state championship. It was the team’s fourth title in a row.

During a postgame interview with WACH Fox’s Claire Foley, Walker’s head coach at Dutch Fork, the legendary Tom Knotts, provided a significant detail on the final days of Walker’s recruitment.

(The 10-time SCHSL state champ also broke down his star pass rusher. You can read GamecockCentral’s story on that breakdown here.)

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“I was a little bit worried about [Walker] because he was so distracted,” Knotts said Saturday night following the win. “Belichick kept him on the phone for an hour, throwing money at him. It was just crazy.” He added, “He was so stressed out.”

Previously, The Athletic reported that UNC General Manager Michael Lombardi had taken a fundraising trip to Saudi Arabia. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Tar Heels signed 39 players last week. That number is fifth-most in all of Division-I, but three of the schools ahead of North Carolina are service academies, institutions that typically take a high number of freshmen each year.

Though an hour is a long time to listen to anyone’s recruiting pitch, let alone Bill Belichick’s, the financial overture didn’t make that much of an impact on Walker. When it came time to announce his final decision, he had just two hats on the table. Those were Michigan and South Carolina.

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Instead of money being at the top of Walker’s priority list, the local standout declared that the decision came down to the place where he “felt was home.”

That future “home” proved to be just a short drive from his current home in Irmo. He will join the Gamecocks as part of a 15th-ranked national signing class, the program’s best under Shane Beamer.

In both the Rivals Industry Rankings and Rivals300, Walker ranks as the No. 2 signee in the South Carolina class.

He is No. 72 overall (behind only offensive lineman Darius Gray) in the Rivals industry Ranking, No. 11 nationally among all EDGE players, and No. 1 in South Carolina. In the Rivals300, he is within five-star range at No. 26 overall (behind only offensive lineman Zyon Guiles), No. 6 among EDGEs, and No. 2 in the Palmetto State.

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