Jamyest Williams’ commitment could boost USC’s recruiting efforts

The Gamecocks’ overall recruiting efforts got a big boost from the commitment of Grayson, Ga., cornerback Jamyest Williams on Saturday.

Williams’ announcement was nationally televised live on ESPN2, and a clip of his commitment was aired during Grayson’s game versus IMG Academy (Fla.), which gave USC a large amount of free publicity.

During the announcement, Williams was interviewed by ESPN reporter Olivia Harlan and was joined by several of his friends and family, who wore green “Team Jamyest” shirts behind him. One of Williams’ supporters was his father, James “JJ” Williams, who believes his son’s commitment will attract other top-rated recruits to USC.

“From a recruiting standpoint, at this point, he’s probably going to be the highest-rated player that they’ve had since (Jadeveon) Clowney,” James Williams said. “Once they see that Jamyest is 100 percent committed, it’s going to help them get other high-rated kids to come over and play for them.”

James Williams’ beliefs are similar to those of several national recruiting analysts, who think the 5-foot-9, 172-pound cornerback will give USC an advantage in pursuing future recruits.

“For South Carolina, it gives them that guy that they can point to show other recruits ‘Look this is the guy everyone wanted. Now, he’s in the program with us,’” Rivals.com analyst Woody Wommack said. “They identified him and they pursued him the hardest. He’s a big victory for them.”

Paired with three highly ranked commitments in August from MJ Webb, Hamsah Nasilirdeen and TJ Moore, Williams’ commitment puts the Gamecocks in contention to battle with the blue bloods of the SEC.

“Georgia, Tennessee and Florida are all doing fairly well in the East. Then, you got all of the monsters in the West, like LSU, Alabama and Auburn, so (USC) needs these types of guys,” 247Sports recruiting analyst Kipp Adams said. “For them to be able to get somebody on a national exposure, a guy who is really well-known in Georgia, the Southeast and really the whole country, is big for them.”

This story was originally published August 27, 2016 at 8:41 PM with the headline "Jamyest Williams’ commitment could boost USC’s recruiting efforts."