The early signing period for basketball and other sports, except for football, started Wednesday. The Clemson men signed all three of their committed prospects while USC signed two of the three players it had committed. The USC women announced one signee while Furman, The Citadel and Charleston Southern also announced signees.
Clemson signed 6-3 Joshua Beadle of Cardinal Newman, 6-8 Ian Schieffelin of Loganville, GA and 6-6 Lucas Taylor of Wake Forest, NC.
6-4 Devin Carter of Miami, who is attending Brewster Academy in New Hampshire this season, and 6-2 Jacobi Wright of Greenville’s Legacy Charter, signed with USC. The Gamecocks other commitment, 6-5 Carlous Williams of Gulfport, MS won’t sign until April 26th. That’s his grandfather’s birthday and he wants to honor him by signing on that day. williams said his Gamecock commitment is solid.
The USC women signed 5-11 Bree Hall of Dayton. She’s ranked 14th nationally.
Furman announced 4 signees…6-6 Tyrese Hughey of Columbus, OH; 6-1 JP Pegues of Nashville; 6-10 James Repass of Jacksonville, FL; and 6-5 Alex Williams of Xenia, OH.
The Citadel signed 6-8 Jackson Price of Hiram, GA; 6-5 Jason Roche of Berkeley, CA; and 6-3 Brock Wakefield of Annapolis, MO.
6-8 Raekwon Horton, formerly of Keenan but playing this season at Vermont Academy, signed with the College of Charleston. The Cougars also signed 6-5 Michael Dudley of Norfolk, VA.
Charleston Southern signed 6-8 Matt Davis of Johns Creek, GA, 6-5 Kalib Clinton of Jefferson, GA, 6-9 AJ Hamrick of Westminster Catawba, 6-3 MJ Harris of Hahnville, LA and 6-8 Taje’ Kelly of Atlanta.
Wofford signed 6-9 Dante Kiesenhofer of Holly Springs, NC.
The Citadel signed 6-8 Jackson Price of Hiram, GA; 6-5 Jason Roche of Berkeley, CA; and 6-3 Brock Wakefield of Annapolis, MO.
The Clemson women signed 5-9 Kionna Gaines of Columbus, GA, 6-3 MaKayla Elmore of Fostoria, OH, 5-7 Sydney Standifer of Argyle, TX, 5-10 Madison Ott of Frisco, TX and 6-3 Eno Inyang of St. Cloud, FL.
6-5 Bryce McGowens of Legacy Charter in Greenville plans to announce Friday for either Georgia or Nebraska. He is a former Florida State commitment. His brother is now at Nebraska.
2022 6-9 Jai Smith, who is a native of Syracuse but attends Word of God Prep in Raleigh, was offered by Clemson. He’s rated as three-star prospect in the 247Sports Composite and ranked #30 among power forwards nationally in his class. Some of his other offers are Maryland, Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, LSU, Missouri, NC State, St. John’s, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Seton Hall and Oklahoma State.
USC is the first to offer 2024 dual-threat QB Ronnie Royal (5-11 175) of Alexandria, AL. He’s the third prospect in the 2024 class to be offered by the Gamecocks. Royals was a 5A All-State first team in 2019. He has over 2000 yards and 32 touchdowns this season, and he had 332 yards and 6 touchdowns in a playoff game last week.
USC is the first to offer 2022 LB EJ Lightsey (6-2 210) of Fitzgerald, GA.
Clemson is in the top 13 with 2022 5-star DE Enai White of Philadelphia. The others on his shortened list are Ohio State, Alabama, LSU, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Texas, Southern Cal, Ole Miss, Penn State, Miami, Florida and Oregon.
5-star OL Zach Rice of Lynchburg, VA, who has a USC offer and Clemson interest, plans to name his top 8 Saturday.
2022 DE DJ Aiken of Bluffton was offered by Liberty.
2022 WR Adam Randall of Myrtle Beach was offered by LSU.
DT Gabe Watson of Chapman committed to Lenoir-Rhyne.
2025 OF/3B Micah Matthews (6-2 185) of Bridgewater, VA committed to USC. He was named to the Perfect Game 13U National Showcase Top Prospect List. Here’s a recent scouting report on Matthews from Perfect Game: Outstanding athletic build with present strength and more to come. Very good runner for his size, 7.01 in the sixty. Young footwork and fundamentals in the outfield defensively, short and compact arm action. Right handed hitter, hits from a narrow open stance, backside hitter with a loose and lifting swing plane, has leverage at contact at times and can lift and drive the ball, will keep improving as he learns to get to his front side and use his extension and strength more consistently. Interesting power/speed tools.
Citadel baseball signed the following in-state prospects: RHP Jack Benedict of River Bluff, RHP Landon Beverly of Aynor, INF Garrett Dill of Greer, LHP Will Holmes of Boiling Springs, OF Chase Loggins of Bishop England and OF Wells Sykes of Lexington.
