STRecruiting: South Carolina back on the winning side in recruiting with commitment from OT Kamari Blair

After missing on seven of their last eight targets to announce, including the last four in a row, South Carolina Wednesday night landed one of their top football recruiting targets in OT Kamari Blair (6-6 280) of Clarksville, TN. Blair chose the Gamecocks over Ole Miss and Tennessee. He’s USC’s first public commitment since Noah Clark on July 2nd.

Blair made a couple of visits to Columbia after he was offered earlier this year. One was in April for a spring practice. The other was for his official visit the weekend of June 6th. It was that weekend Gamecock head coach Shane Beamer and offensive line coach Lonnie Teasley endeared themselves to Blair and his family.

“I loved it.  The players.  The coaches.  Nobody was BSing me,” Blair said last month. “Everybody was, Hey, it’s not going to be all unicorns and rainbows; you are going to have to work.  They were just honest, that’s what I liked about it.  Nobody was telling me I’m going to start my freshman year.  Nobody was telling me the workouts are easy.  They were telling me the whole program is built off of grit and toughness.  That’s what I really liked about it. That’s what stood out to me.”

Blair added that Teasley was straight forward with him in explaining what would be in store for him with the Gamecocks.

“He said if I put in the work, especially being an early grad and enrollee, he said if everything goes right, he sees me getting minutes my freshman year,” he Blair said. .”Again, nothing was promised.  He said I fit in exactly with what they do.”

Blair gives the Gamecocks 11 commitments for the 2026 class, and their third on the offensive line. They have two more targets scheduled for announcements this week with WR Somourian Wingo on Thursday and QB Landon Duckworth on Friday.

2026 USC Commitments:

• Anthony Baxter                                     OT       6-3    335          South Pointe
• Zyon Guiles                                          OT       6-5    290          Carvers Bay
• Kamari Blair                                          OT       6-6    280          Clarksville, TN
• Keenan Britt                                         LB        6-2    230          Oxford, AL
• Jamel Howse                                        TE        6-4    210          Newberry
• J’Zavien Currence                                 SAF      6-3    190          South Pointe
• Aiden Harris                                         DT       6-3    250          Weddington, NC
• Noah Clark                                           DT       6-3    290          Durham, NC
• Andrew Harris                                       DE       6-2    225          Weddington, NC
• KJ Johnson                                           CB       6-2    175          Birmingham
• Sequel Patterson                                  WR      6-0    165          Indian Land