New Top 5 for USC QB target Dakereon Joyner

Class of 2018 quarterback Dakereon Joyner of Fort Dorchester High took a major step forward in his recruiting Friday night by chopping his list of 26 offers down to a final five of South Carolina, NC State, Louisville, Georgia and Virginia Tech.

The list is in no particular order.

Joyner will take junior day and unofficial visits to these five over the next few months leading up to his announcement date of June 17.

Joyner is viewed by outsiders as a great athlete playing quarterback. He views himself as a quarterback, period, and only seriously considered offers from schools that see him the same way. And his five finalists have something else in common that is attractive to Joyner.

“They all are improving and they are getting better recruits every single year,” Joyner said Friday night. “I’m used to a spread kind of offense and getting the quarterback involved in the game some. Georgia might be a little different but I know Georgia is looking to change their offense and just to give their offense that flexibility. Many of them have the spread kind of offense and kind of get the quarterback involved.”

As for USC, Joyner said the contact remains constant from the Gamecocks and he watched them in their bowl. Of course he was zoned in on the offense, which had its second most productive game of the season with 481 yards.

“They looked pretty sharp,” he said. “They started out kind of slow but they got rolling. You can see when they get rolling the things they can do. This was the game the offense helped the defense out. They scored 39 points but you still have to win a ball game. I can see myself fitting in with South Carolina’s offense, and NC State’s offense as well. I like the way they (USC) throw the ball. They have a lot of threats and they’ve got some guys coming in. And the team itself is pretty young.”

Joyner is scheduled for junior day visits at Virginia Jan. 15 and Georgia Feb. 18. The end of February he plans to visit USC and he is looking to visit Louisville possibly in January or March. And he said he can get to NC State any time.

He said there is no favorite at this point.

Joyner was the Gatorade Player of the Year in South Carolina this season after passing for 3,642 yards and 44 touchdowns and rushing for 1,089 yards and 12 touchdowns.

He plans to make his announcement on Father’s Day in June.

This story was originally published December 30, 2016 at 9:07 PM with the headline "New Top 5 for USC QB target Dakereon Joyner."