W
Wes Mitchell
Guest
South Carolina landed a commitment from four-star offensive tackle Dylan Wonnum Saturday evening, effectively capping off its five-man offensive line class with one of its top overall targets.
While South Carolina has always felt that it was going to land the big-time tackle prospect, and the presence of Wonnum's older brother D.J. ultimately did help the Gamecocks out, he never planned to just go to Carolina by default. Dylan Wonnum wanted to go through his own recruiting process and wanted to find his own best fit before ultimately deciding that it was also Carolina for him.
Offensive line coach Eric Wolford deserves a ton of credit here for working Wonnum from start to finish as he teamed with Will Muschamp and Bryan McClendon to withstand an early push from LSU, the staying power of Auburn, and a late attempted push from Tennessee. Ultimately the comfort level with the staff for not just Dylan, but his entire family, was a major factor in my opinion as D.J. has loved his first two seasons in the program.
I don't know exactly when Wonnum made the decision in his head, but I know there was a great deal of confidence (more so than even before) that he was signing with the Gamecocks following the official visit and he told the staff for sure earlier today.
We've talked quite a bit about the need for Wolford to upgrade the athleticism on the line since arriving back in Columbia and each of Carolina's five linemen in the 2018 class bring a little different skillset to the position group. By my estimation, Hank Manos is a center all the way. Wyatt Campbell is a right tackle. Max Iyama is a swing guy who could play tackle or profile as an athletic guard. Jovaughn Gwyn is a road-grader at guard who is athletic and already pretty far along as a player - and also has defensive tackle ability.
With Wonnum, the Gamecocks add a potential true left tackle to the class with the needed athleticism, hips and feet to play the position and a major recruiting win from a prospect who held offers from the three other programs mentioned above plus schools like Georgia, Florida, Florida State, Ohio State and Southern Cal.
While South Carolina has always felt that it was going to land the big-time tackle prospect, and the presence of Wonnum's older brother D.J. ultimately did help the Gamecocks out, he never planned to just go to Carolina by default. Dylan Wonnum wanted to go through his own recruiting process and wanted to find his own best fit before ultimately deciding that it was also Carolina for him.
Offensive line coach Eric Wolford deserves a ton of credit here for working Wonnum from start to finish as he teamed with Will Muschamp and Bryan McClendon to withstand an early push from LSU, the staying power of Auburn, and a late attempted push from Tennessee. Ultimately the comfort level with the staff for not just Dylan, but his entire family, was a major factor in my opinion as D.J. has loved his first two seasons in the program.
I don't know exactly when Wonnum made the decision in his head, but I know there was a great deal of confidence (more so than even before) that he was signing with the Gamecocks following the official visit and he told the staff for sure earlier today.
We've talked quite a bit about the need for Wolford to upgrade the athleticism on the line since arriving back in Columbia and each of Carolina's five linemen in the 2018 class bring a little different skillset to the position group. By my estimation, Hank Manos is a center all the way. Wyatt Campbell is a right tackle. Max Iyama is a swing guy who could play tackle or profile as an athletic guard. Jovaughn Gwyn is a road-grader at guard who is athletic and already pretty far along as a player - and also has defensive tackle ability.
With Wonnum, the Gamecocks add a potential true left tackle to the class with the needed athleticism, hips and feet to play the position and a major recruiting win from a prospect who held offers from the three other programs mentioned above plus schools like Georgia, Florida, Florida State, Ohio State and Southern Cal.
