The third time apparently will be the charm for Gaffney DT Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins. After twice postponing his college commitment announcement, the state’s top-ranked prospect is set to reveal his choice Friday at 5:30 PM on CBS Sports HQ. Ingram-Dawkins made his decision from a final four of USC, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee. Very few people know his choice, and there is no consensus among the recruiting media.
One who does know is Gaffney coach Dan Jones. He has watched Jones deal with the stress of the recruiting process, and he believes this decision will be a final one for his big man.
“I think he’s put a lot of thought into this, and he’s had about enough too,” Jones said. “Hopefully this will be it. I do know now (the decision). He’s just kind of been a little tight-lipped, but he’s let me know here recently.”
The Gaffney football team has been idled the past two weeks by a Covid-19 quarantine. School has not been in session and there have been no football activities of any kind. The positive side of that for Ingram-Dawkins is it gave him some down time to be able to focus on his college decision. Jones said Ingram-Dawkins needed some quiet time to sort things out after a hectic recruiting experience.
“It’s been tough because he’s one of the most coveted players in South Carolina right now,” Jones said. “I’m sure, for a 17 year old, he’s wanting to please everybody. But at the same time, he’s got to make a decision, and I’m excited for him and glad he’s going to get that out of the way. He’s handled it pretty well, as good as can be expected. It’s tough on somebody that young. He builds relationships with these guys, but you can only go to one place. That’s tough. And he really hasn’t gotten the visits you would want to get because of Covid, so he’s having to make it at a distance instead of being able to visit the campus and get to know some of the players and really get to know the whole coaching staff. It’s been tough.”
Dawkins is rated a four-star prospect in the 24Sports Composite. He’s ranked 14th nationally among defensive tackles and the #1 prospect in South Carolina.
Also Friday, 2022 Greer wide receiver Jaleel Skinner is set to name his top 12 schools. Among his offers are USC, Clemson, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Tech, Auburn, Arkansas, Penn State, Florida, Wake Forest, Michigan, Georgia, LSU, Oregon, Duke, Florida State, Virginia Tech and Miami. Skinner would end up as a tight end in college.
USC basketball target 7-0 Jonas Aidoo of Charlotte will drop his top ten on Saturday between 12:00 and 1:00 PM. Some of his other offers are NC State, Tennessee, Kansas, Alabama, Wake Forest, Miami, VCU, Virginia Tech, Wichita State, Marquette, Houston and Providence. Clemson also was an offer but Aidoo said the Tigers have not been recruiting him.
Sunday at 4:00 PM, USC target 6-9 Jalen Deloach of Atlanta will make his commitment announcement. He has been working with a short list of USC, Georgia, Kansas State, Ole Miss, VCU and Texas Southern.
