The Irmo Yellow Jackets played for a state championship last season, and they are loaded again this season with a pair of major 2027 prospects in DE Jaiden Bryant (6-4 255) and OT Nate Carson (6-5 270) leading the way.
Bryant emerged last season as a killer pass rusher, totaling 21 sacks among his 92 tackles. He’s become a nightmare for offensive tackles.
“I like to long arm them,” Bryant said. “I’ve got these long arms, so they can’t really touch me. These long arms, matching my speed, it’s just dangerous. I best compare myself to Dylan Stewart (of South Carolina). Especially when I stand up, we’re both quick off the ball. We’re not long making our move, and we’ll get to the quarterback. Really put fear in the quarterback.”
South Carolina defensive ends coach Sterling Lucas has been all over Bryant from a recruiting standpoint, and early in the process, he’s worked his way into a good position.
“Me and South Carolina, we’re real tight,” Bryant said. “They reach out to me every once in a while and check on me, see how I’m doing. I might go up there every once in a while for a camp, or if my team is doing a seven-on-seven, I’ll go up there and talk to the coaches. He (Lucas) likes my size; he likes my intensity on the football field. He calls me a dog every time he sees me. He says I’m fast and quick, and I match the defense perfectly.”
Lucas has also made his argument to Bryant on why he should become a Gamecock.
“Because I’m right here at home,” Bryant said. “He said I’m right down the street. It’s a pipeline. He said come be a Gamecock.”
Bryant said at this point, the Gamecocks do stand out above the crowd. He plans to attend games at USC this season, with the Alabama and Clemson games already locked in. But, it’s way too early for him to focus on just one program.
“Me and my family are still game planning right now,” Bryant said. “Right now, my goal is to make my list bigger, then as the season goes on and I start getting a relationship with more of the coaches and the schools, then we’ll narrow it down from there.”
Florida and LSU are two others, Bryant said, who are coming at him hard. Clemson is also involved, and he visited there in early April.
“I’m still building that relationship with Clemson,” Bryant said. “They are showing a lot of interest. I like it. I think it’s nice. It’s real professional. One of the best ACC schools I’ve seen. I think Clemson is going to be a nice team this year.”
Among the other big-time offers for Bryant are Michigan, NC State, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Florida State, Missouri, SMU, Miami, Georgia Tech and Michigan State. He’s now considered one of the top defensive end prospects in the country for the 2027 class.
“I’m a little surprised, but I knew I’d be here one day,” Bryant said. “As a kid, I’ve always been the biggest, been the fastest, been the best one on the field. Always have had eyes looking at me, so I knew once I got to high school, it would be the same way, but even better. My freshman year, I got my name out there, but it wasn’t really making a lot of noise. In the beginning of my sophomore season, everybody started to know my name. I started racking up tackles, racking up sacks. I started getting eyes everywhere looking at me.”
Practices at Irmo must be fun to watch when Bryant and Carson hook up in team drills. Who gets the better of it?
“I will personally say me, but Nate, he might get me here and there,” Bryant said. “My coach might tell me to do something that he knows I’m going to do, so he might get me there. He’s a dog, too. Nate is a complete dog. If he can compete with me, I know he can definitely compete with anybody else in South Carolina.”
Could the two Yellow Jacket standouts take their battles to the same college program?
“We’ve talked about it, talked about the pipeline a couple of times,” Bryant said. “Just going to see where life takes us. If it takes us to the same place, it’s God doing his work.”