USC landed a commitment Saturday afternoon from one of the top prospects in the northeast in LB Jaishawn Barham (6-3 230) of Baltimore. The Gamecocks beat out Maryland, Oklahoma and Penn State for Barham.
USC coach Shane Beamer and Maryland coach Michael Locksley both met with Barham late this week to make their final pitches. And Gamecocks defensive ends coach Mike Peterson also did some of the heavy lifting in recruiting Barham.
“He’s a very passionate player, quiet and reserved to himself, but Jaishawn is a relationship type of guy, and Coach Peterson did a great job of recruiting him,” said St. Frances coach Messay Hailemariam. “I feel he was the difference maker. He built a rapport that was separate. You could tell that he was the strongest with him. You could see the glove fitting.”
Barham took his official visit to USC September 24th. He also made an unofficial visit in June. He also took official visits to his other three finalists.
As for what the Gamecocks are getting in Barham, his coach described him with one word.
“Electric,” he said. “He is the whole package. He is the athlete that you want, the dog that you want. He does everything on a high level. He plays the game the right way. He can walk up and go after the quarterback, or he can drop back and get a pick and athletic enough to go score a touchdown.”
Barham gives the Gamecocks 19 commitments for the 2022 class which actually numbers 20 because of a transfer counting in the class.
So did Karon Prunty not end up counting against us? I was thinking he still did. He was only here for like one practice though.
Tyrese Ross is the only one apparently?
He did not count.
Oh nice! I’m guessing we add Zavier Short, then I have no idea about the other 4 spots. I think the ideal group would be:
Jake Johnson
James Pearce
Max Johnson (Transfer)
Mason Brooks (Transfer)
Idk how realistic any of those 4 are to signing, but that’d be a nice finish. Or if the transfers waited to enroll/paid their own way for a semester, then we could add two more HS prospects. Stone Blanton and Ramon Brown would be perfect.