Former South Carolina defensive ends coach Sterling Lucas did a heck of a job filling his room with talent over the last few years, with guys like Kyle Kennard, Dylan Stewart, Bryan Thomas Jr. and Julian Walker. His replacement, Deion Barnes, is hard at work keeping that momentum going for the position.
Lucas put the Gamecocks in a prime spot with KJ Green (6-4 220) of Stone Mountain, GA, widely regarded among the top defensive ends in the 2027 class nationally. Barnes has picked right up with Green where Lucas left off, and the Gamecocks remain right in the fight for the talented pass rusher.
“I wasn’t expecting a new coach to hit South Carolina at my position, and I was kind of confused over who they might bring in,” Green said. “When they brought him in, I was happy because I kind of knew him from when Penn State was kind of recruiting me. I was like OK, I’ve kind of got a feel for the dude, I know him a little bit. It hasn’t been a drop off between South Carolina and me. He pretty much took the role and filled the shoes pretty well. I can’t say the relationship between me and South Carolina fell off, because it didn’t. I want to say it pretty much got stronger. Coach Barnes is my dog. I probably talk to Coach Barnes maybe two to three times a week.”
The most recent call from Barnes, a Zoom call, took place on Tuesday night.
“We might watch film, go over my tape, go over some of his development pieces,” Green said. “I know they just started practicing, so a lot of what they’ve been practicing are keys that he’s been teaching. We chopped it up for a minute on the Zoom, and he asked me what guys do I model my game after, some of my favorite pass rushers in today’s game. So, I gave him a list and he pulled clips up. Micha Parsons for sure. Max Crosby. Laiatu Latu of the Colts. We watched those guys’ tapes, and he let me know the things the sees that they do that I do, what I can do better and stuff like that. The relationship between me and Coach Barnes is really strong.”
Green has a hectic month of visits planned to the nine schools he considers his favorites right now. He has been to Texas and has the following visits scheduled:
- Notre Dame, March 21st
- Auburn, March 23rd
- Alabama, March 26th
- Miami, April 3rd
- Georgia, April 9th
- USC, April 10th
- Oregon, April 17th
- LSU, April 23rd
Green also has official visits set with Georgia on May 15th, Miami on May 29th, Texas on June 5th, USC on June 12th and Alabama on June 19th. He also considering adding official visits to Oregon, Notre Dame and Auburn. He has set August 8th for his commitment date.