South Carolina lands four-star safety for latest in-state recruiting win
Shane Beamer’s recruiting train is rolling.
Four-star West Florence safety Kelvin Hunter announced his commitment to South Carolina via Twitter on Wednesday afternoon. He chose USC over Virginia Tech, Michigan, Auburn and Appalachian State.
Hunter, rated the No. 202 player in the 2024 class, per the 247Sports Composite, played multiple positions on the West Florence defense, helping his squad to an 11-2 record and a third round playoff appearance in 2022. He finished his junior season with 103 tackles, 19 tackles for a loss, one interception and six blocked punts.
“Obviously the thing that has gotten Kelvin to be this type of recruit is his speed.,” West Florence coach Jody Jenerette told The State. “He has legit SEC top-end speed. He’s physical enough to be a box player and will be talented enough to backpedal when needed.
“He probably projects as nickel type guy on Saturdays. He’s still very raw with tons of room to develop. The thing that will get him on the field early is his uncanny ability to block punts.”
With Hunter’s pledge, South Carolina has now landed the top four players in the state in the 2024 class and five of the top seven — including four-star tackles Kam Pringle and Josiah Thompson, four-star receiver Mazeo Bennett and three-star tackle Blake Franks.
The Gamecocks have had significant success recruiting the secondary under Beamer and defensive backs coach Torrian Gray. South Carolina has landed four four-star defensive backs between the 2022 and 2023 classes. That also doesn’t include safeties Nick Emmanwori (Irmo) and DQ Smith (Spring Valley), both of whom evolved into starters in their first year in the program and earned Freshman All-American honors in 2022.
Minutes after Hunter’s commitment, South Carolina landed a pledge from three-star Maryland offensive lineman Mike Williams. A high school teammate of four-star 2023 signee Desmond Umeozulu, Williams is the fourth lineman to choose the Gamecocks during this cycle.
South Carolina football 2024 commits
- July 2, 2022: QB Dante Reno — Windsor, Conn.
- Jan. 22: OT Kam Pringle — Dorchester, SC
- Jan. 24: TE Michael Smith — Savannah, GA
- Jan. 27: LB Wendell Gregory — Marietta, GA
- Feb. 3: WR Mazeo Bennett — Greenville, SC
- March 31: OL Blake Franks — Greenville, SC
- April 14: OL Josiah Thompson — Dillon, SC
- April 19: DB Kelvin Hunter — Florence, SC
- April 19: OL Mike Williams — Baltimore, MD
This story was originally published April 19, 2023 at 12:00 PM.
