4-star recruit Monteque Rhames has top goal for USC career: Keep the momentum going
Monteque Rhames II remembers the promise coach Shane Beamer made to South Carolina football fans when he was hired two years ago.
“He said he was going to try to build” a contender, Rhames said. “And that’s what he’s doing. You can tell. They’re getting better and better each year.”
Now, after committing to Beamer and USC in July and playing out his senior season at Manning High School, the four-star 2023 recruit is ready to help keep that momentum going.
Rhames, a 6-foot-5 edge rusher who ranks as the No. 4 player in South Carolina and No. 392 recruit nationally, is competing at the 86th annual Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas this week.
After that, Rhames told The State on Monday, he’s all set to sign his national letter of intent with USC during the Dec. 21-23 early period and join the program as a January mid-year enrollee.
The senior defender is happy — and honored — to finish up his prep career playing in the prestigious Shrine Bowl on Saturday at Spartanburg High School. But at the same time, he said with a laugh, he’s antsy to get the ball rolling on his next chapter:
College ball.
Rhames, who also starred at Sumter High School before transferring, arrives at South Carolina next month as an intriguing talent. He’s a bit lean, listed at 6-5 and 235 pounds, and the 247Sports Composite, which factors in multiple sites’ rankings, deems him the No. 39 edge rusher in his class.
But Rhames’ unique combination of size and athleticism drew plenty of big-name suitors. Alabama, Georgia, Michigan and N.C. State were also finalists to land his commitment before Rhames chose South Carolina on July 30.
“I just knew that was home,” Rhames said of USC. “Every time I go there, it’s never different. It’s always the same (love). And it’d be different people coming to me, knowing me. I like all of that, honestly. I’d go to another college and it wasn’t that all the time — just sometimes.”
South Carolina’s 2023 recruiting class — good for 17th nationally and seventh in the SEC — features four in-state commitments: Rhames, Dorman interior offensive lineman Markee Anderson, Camden defensive lineman Xzavier McLeod and Legion Collegiate Academy athlete Judge Collier.
Anderson, McLeod and Rhames rank as four-star recruits and the Nos. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 players in the state, respectively, trailing only Oceanside Collegiate offensive tackle Monroe Freeling. Freeling, a top 100 recruit, is committed to Georgia.
The Gamecocks are also very publicly attempting to flip the commitment of three-star South Florence QB and current Syracuse pledge LaNorris Sellers — who’s competing alongside Rhames and Anderson at this week’s Shrine Bowl events.
“I’m telling him right now: He’s gotta come,” Rhames said of Sellers.
Playing an hour east of Columbia, Rhames had a combined 120 tackles, 31 tackles for loss and 10 sacks during his sophomore and junior seasons at Sumter.
Then, as detailed by The High School Sports Report, Rhames transferred from Sumter to Manning High School for his senior year following a “disciplinary situation.” Rhames enrolled at Manning, an area where his father lives, on Aug. 15 and participated in conditioning and weightlifting — but not practice — while waiting on an eligibility appeal.
Rhames won his S.C. High School League appeal and became immediately eligible to practice and play for Manning in September. He missed his team’s first three games but recorded about 60 tackles and 10 sacks in the nine games he did play.
Manning went 9-3 and reached the second round of the playoffs — a notable turnaround for a program that was 0-10 in 2020 and 3-6 in 2021.
“It went good,” Rhames said.
Rhames said Beamer and defensive ends/outside linebackers coach Sterling Lucas, his primary recruiter and future position coach, kept in touch with him throughout that 2022 season — almost like he was still an uncommitted recruit they were still chasing.
“Nothing changed,” he said. “That’s what I loved about it.”
After beating Tennessee and Clemson in consecutive weeks to close the regular season, South Carolina finished 8-4 and ranked No. 19 in the final College Football Playoff Top 25 rankings. The Gamecocks will play No. 21 Notre Dame in the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville on Dec. 30.
Then it’ll be time for Rhames to get to work in the winter as a true freshman and — he hopes — makes Year 3 of the Beamer era even better.
“I’m feeling great, honestly,” he said. “I’m ready to play in college.”
This story was originally published December 13, 2022 at 10:00 AM.
