High-scoring in-state guard earns scholarship offer from Lamont Paris, USC
With most of next season’s roster set, South Carolina men’s basketball coach Lamont Paris is starting to work on reaching out to the Class of 2027.
Paris and the Gamecocks offered high-scoring in-state guard Colt Fowler of Byrnes High School on Thursday, he announced on social media.
“To get this offer, it’s a great feeling,” Fowler told The State. “It’s my state. There’s no better feeling than that.”
Fowler (5-foot-10, 160 pounds) attended USC’s team camp in Columbia over the weekend. He said the Gamecocks have been monitoring his progress over the past year.
“I had a sit-down talk with Coach Paris,” Fowler said. “He talked about my future and plans. He likes how I’m a true point guard. I like Coach Paris a lot and the whole coaching staff.”
South Carolina is Fowler’s first power conference offer. The Gamecocks have no commitments for Class of 2027 yet. His other offers include Toledo (MAC), Florida Gulf Coast (ASUN), UNC Greensboro (SoCon), Wofford (SoCon) and Oral Roberts (Summit League). He said Wofford is recruiting him the hardest.
Fowler comes from a basketball family. His older brother, Will, plays at Canisius University in New York and his father, Layne, is his head coach at Byrnes in Duncan. Fowler is unranked by most major recruiting services but has generated buzz for his playmaking ability.
“Colt Fowler plays at a controlled pace many simply cannot keep up with. Not only is the pace fast, but his reads are decisive and on target,” On3/Rivals senior recruiting analyst Jamie Shaw wrote of Fowler.
As a junior, Fowler averaged 24.3 points, 10.8 assists and 5.7 rebounds per contest while shooting 48.0 percent from the field, 37.0 percent from 3-point range and 86.4 percent from the free throw line. He was the SC Basketball Coaches Class 5A Player of the Year and MaxPreps South Carolina Player of the Year.
Through three seasons at Byrnes, Fowler has 1,474 career points and 777 assists.
Fowler is playing on the adidas circuit with Upward Stars, which features another USC in-state target, five-star Josh Leonard of Wilson High School in Florence. In eight games over the spring and summer, Fowler is averaging 15 points and a circuit-best 6.5 assists per game.
This story was originally published June 11, 2026 at 1:03 PM.
