Gamecocks reach into heart of Texas for two signees. Here’s what they mean to class
Peyton Williams’ voice excitedly jumps an octave at the thought.
The three-star defensive back and standout at Rockwall-Heath High School saw plenty of talent week to week. It comes with playing at the highest levels of Texas high school football. Only once, though, did he match up against a future college teammate.
During a Week 2 game between Rockwall-Heath and Dallas-Fort Worth powerhouse Southlake Carroll, it was in Williams who was tasked with slowing fellow South Carolina signee Landon Samson.
“We’re both captains, so whenever we went up to go shake hands, we kind of laughed at each other,” Williams conceded. “But I think it was a fun little deal, because we’ll be seeing each other every day in practice for the next couple of years. I really enjoyed it.”
Williams had his moments in the game. So, too, did Samson — who finished with a season-high 153 yards and two touchdowns on eight catches. Southlake Carroll escaped the evening with a 36-35 win when it blocked a last-second field goal attempt, but the night was a glimpse into what the Texas products can bring to Columbia.
“I thought Landon was the was the best player on the field,” Rivals national recruiting analyst Sam Spiegelman — who attended the Southlake Carroll-Rockwall-Heath game — told The State. “And that definitely was not the impression that I had going in.”
South Carolina hasn’t exactly recruited Texas heavily in its history. Only three players from the Lone Star State have signed with the Gamecocks since 2009. Shilo Sanders was the most recent signee in the class of 2019, but he left the program in 2020.
Speaking with reporters during his early signing period press conference, USC head coach Shane Beamer lauded the geography of South Carolina’s 2022 class. The Gamecocks signed 21 players from nine different states. It would’ve been 10 states had Maryland four-star linebacker Jaishawn Barham not flipped his pledge to the Terrapins.
Part of that is by design. South Carolina — while rich at the top — isn’t the deepest talent-producing state in the South. It forces the Gamecocks to get creative in where they hunt for prospects.
Given his ties to Texas from his time at SMU and Arkansas, receivers coach Justin Stepp has helped USC make inroads in a state that has hardly been utilized over the past decade.
Stepp recruited both Williams and Samson. Holding on to both was a coup in itself.
“(Samson) committed to us early and it was like, ‘He’s all the way out in Texas, we’ve got to try and hang on to this guy,’ and we did. He had plenty of Big 12 schools coming after him here down the stretch as well.”
Now signed with South Carolina, both Williams and Samson feel like good bets to see the field early once they actually arrive in Columbia.
Williams is one of a handful of defensive backs in the class that give the Gamecocks some positional flexibility. He’s largely been recruited as a safety, but has played cornerback at the high school level and could slide there in a pinch.
Samson is one of the more intriguing prospects in the cycle. There’s some belief he could be the best player in the class given his polished route-running and ability to find holes in a defense. With a desperate need at receiver to help incoming transfer quarterback Spencer Rattler, Samson may find the field as early as anyone in the 2022 signing class.
“He’s gonna be one of those guys here in a few years, you’re gonna look up and he’s gonna catch like a million balls in his time here at Carolina just because he knows how to get open,” Beamer said of Samson. “He’s just a football player.”
“He can stretch the field, but he’s a technician as a route runner,” Spiegelman added. “He’s able to matriculate outside the numbers — which is something that a lot of people have to get coached into — and he’s pretty advanced at that already.”
Williams told The State he plans on enrolling early. Samson, too, is expected to arrive in January.
The Texas pair spent the early parts of their final high school seasons facing off against one another. They’ll also see each other in practice plenty over the next handful of years, bringing a smile to both their faces.
South Carolina recruiting class, by state
- Georgia (5): Emory Floyd Jr., Cason Henry, Felix Hixon, Grayson Mains, Donovan Westmoreland
- Florida (4): Kajuan Banks, Anthony Rose, Bryan Thomas Jr., Jamaal Whyce
- South Carolina (4): Nick Emmanwori, Kylic Horton, Zavier Short, Demetrius Watson
- Pennsylvania (2): Ryan Brubaker, Keenan Nelson Jr.
- Texas (2): Landon Samson, Peyton Williams
- Delaware (1): Braden Davis
- Mississippi (1): Stone Blanton
- North Carolina (1): D’Andre Martin
- Alabama (1): Tanner Bailey
This story was originally published December 26, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
