Why two in-state recruits are staying put despite hard push from Gamecocks
South Carolina football has a good history of landing in-state players late in the recruiting process.
Two years ago, the Gamecocks flipped Chapin’s Zavier Short from Appalachian State to USC. Last December, USC got South Florence quarterback LaNorris Sellers to pick the Gamecocks after being committed to Syracuse. They also got Northwestern’s Elijah Caldwell to pick the Gamecocks a few weeks later.
This year, USC was hoping to do the same with Marion defensive back Quaysheed Scott and Strom Thurmond receiver Braylon Staley. But the two are staying with their commitments to other Southeastern Conference schools and will sign their national letters of intent next week.
Scott is headed to play at Kentucky, and Staley is going to Tennessee. The two are teammates this week for the SC squad in the Shrine Bowl.
“I think I’m locked in,” Staley said Tuesday after morning practice at Spartanburg High School. “Not even thinking: I’m locked in to Tennessee.”
The same goes for Scott, despite pleas from West Florence’s Kelvin Hunter, a USC defensive back commit who is playing alongside him for the SC squad.
Scott said it might have been a different story if USC came a little earlier in the process. The Gamecocks started monitoring Scott over the summer and offered him in October.
“I considered them a lot until my one-on-one with coach (Kentucky head coach Mark) Stoops,” said Scott, who took his official visit to Kentucky last week.
Scott said he preferred not to say what was said by Stoops but “it was all good stuff.” He originally planned to visit USC this weekend after the Shrine Bowl but canceled it after his meeting with Stoops and visit last week.
“Ever since day one, Kentucky has been showing love,” Scott said. “The players, coaches and fans made it so that I was already home before I even get there.”
Scott had 63 tackles and three interceptions on defense this year for Marion and accounted for 1,647 yards and 23 touchdowns on offense.
The 6-foot, 180-pounder was a three-star prospect by 247Sports and On3 and ranked as the fifth-best prospect in SC for Class of 2024.
Staley said the timing of USC’s offer on Oct. 4 wasn’t the problem. It was just the relationship and everything he had built up with Tennessee’s coaches throughout the process.
Receivers are a position of need with USC, which has lost seven because of graduation or portal headed into next season. Staley had a big senior season for Strom Thurmond, catching 69 passes for 1,166 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Staley, a four-star recruit, is the second-ranked prospect in SC for Class of 2024 by 247Sports and On3.
Gamecocks receivers coach Justin Stepp pursued Staley hard down the stretch. He attended one of the Rebels’ game against Pelion and also got an in-home visit last week with Staley and his family.
“Coach Stepp treated me with respect and that I’m like his own son,” Staley said. “He wanted me, but … I built bonds with every coach on the coaching staff with Tennessee. It would have been hard to build a bond with everyone on South Carolina’s staff.”
This story was originally published December 12, 2023 at 3:30 PM with the headline "Why two in-state recruits are staying put despite hard push from Gamecocks."
