W
Wes Mitchell
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** As we've continued to cover the commitment of Tiger (Ga.) Rabun County class of 2022 four-star QB Gunner Stockton to South Carolina, I've continued to ask around about the Gamecocks' new signal-caller. One coach I asked about an evaluation of Stockton pointed out how he's a finely tuned passer, especially for someone his age.
There are a lot of players who can throw a football, but Stockton already shows the ability to anticipate receivers getting open and can put the ball in tight windows. Even though he's ranked as a pro-style QB on Rivals, he obviously has some athleticism to him and can make things happen with his legs, though he keeps his eyes downfield before taking off running. He delivers the ball with zip and has a complete skillset with few holes.
** As we've said since he committed, Stockton is the type of prospect that a recruiting class can be built around and the staff will look to do just that. Not only is Stockton the clear top QB in the southeast but he's also one of the first commitments of the known elite guys right now, which gives South Carolina a little bit of a head start.
As we said during the recruiting process, Stockton wasn't someone who really enjoyed all aspects of the recruiting process so I doubt he's going to be a big rah rah type guy on social media. But he is a likable person with leadership intangibles who will build relationships and other prospects are definitely going to want to play with.
As we've seen play out over the last few years, recruiting has increasingly become a game where momentum can play a factor and top prospects want to play with other top prospects, especially if you can get to the point where other prospects are taking notice of just how well a class is going.
** So who will Stockton target? It's obviously early and Carolina is in on a ton of prospects early for 2022, but I look for them to shoot for the moon so to speak for that class with elite targets. This clearly isn't a comprehensive list by any means but it does give an early idea of some of the prospects Stockton is targeting since he tagged them all in a recent Twitter post about his commitment.
We've talked about Randall quite a bit already and as Chris reported he was excited about Stockton's pledge to South Carolina. While Stockton's commitment will open the door for Carolina with some prospects, it should serve as another strong factor for players they're already in decent shape with and we'd put Randall in that category.
I expect him to be a major, major priority for the Gamecocks who already have his former QB Luke Doty on campus as well. North Carolina with the commitment of J.J. Jones and the relationship those two have probably is another school to watch for Randall who also mentioned Tennessee and Duke to us as schools recruiting him hard in the spring. But the big takeaway here is that the Gamecocks will do everything they can to get Randall in the boat.
We talked with Drew Bobo when he first landed an offer from South Carolina and he told us then that he's really on getting started with the recruiting process and hasn't been able to take visits (even to South Carolina due to COVID).
But Bobo and Stockton are definitely friends and this serves as another positive factor for Carolina with Bobo, who has always liked the idea of playing for his dad.
We'll look to continue to gain information on the others as well.
** We probably haven't talked about Viera (Fla.) class of 2021 three-star WR Davis Mallinger on the site much, but he's a prospect for that cycle that we're still tracking and is worth keeping an eye on.
The 6-foot-2, 175-pound Mallinger is currently committed to UCF but has continued to listen to other programs and I think it will ultimately be tough on the Knights to hold off on him. West Virginia is another program that has been strong here, but Mallinger continues to hear from both Will Muschamp and WRs coach Joe Cox often and is someone Carolina is continuing to recruit and we're continuing to track.
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