South Carolina lands four-star OT Josiah Thompson, continues hot start in-state

Publish date: 2024-05-13

Josiah Thompson was in the eighth grade playing junior varsity football when Kelvin Roller, the head coach at Dillon (S.C.) High School, first heard about the big, physical offensive lineman. One of the JV coaches told Roller that Thompson had all the makings of being a “premier player one day.”

Nearly four years later, the 6-foot-7, 290-pound Thompson is ranked No. 73 overall and the No. 5 offensive tackle in the Class of 2024 by the 247Sports Composite. His career has unfolded exactly as Roller had hoped. And to Roller’s delight, he won’t have to travel far to see Thompson at the next level.

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On Friday morning, Thompson committed to South Carolina at a ceremony at Dillon High.

Thompson chose the Gamecocks over Alabama and Clemson, which wasn’t a surprise Friday morning given the way his recruitment trended. A month ago, he tweeted that he had already made up his mind. South Carolina was the presumed leader all along.

I know my decision now!!!👀🤫

— BIGCAT (@JosiahtThompson) March 14, 2023

But it’s still hard to overstate how crucial of a pickup Thompson is for South Carolina coach Shane Beamer, who promised when he was hired in late 2020 that the Gamecocks would win recruiting battles in their backyard — something that had proven difficult with Georgia and rival Clemson hoarding the elite talent in the Palmetto State. And with Thompson joining top-50 offensive lineman Kam Pringle and four-star wide receiver Mazeo Bennett, the Gamecocks have commitments from three of the state’s top four players.

“We don’t always have three marquee offensive linemen in the state coming out like Josiah and Pringle and (Blake) Franks from Greenville,” Roller said. “(To) pick up Josiah on Friday, that (says) a lot.”

Thompson was first offered by Will Muschamp and the previous staff at South Carolina before Beamer and company wasted no time making him one of their top priorities.

“Coach Beamer is awesome,” Thompson said. “He’s confident. He’s fun to be around. He’s easy to talk to as well. You can tell he’s very excited for this class because he worked hard.”

Thompson also gave high marks to South Carolina offensive line coach Lonnie Teasley.

“I’m comfortable around him,” he said. “Can talk to him about anything and he’ll take time out of his day just to check on me and my family.”

Roller, who has been a high school coach in the state since the 1990s, was very impressed with the Gamecocks’ hospitality at on-campus events. Even when Texas A&M, LSU and Notre Dame — three national brands — got into the mix along with Alabama, South Carolina was able to still make a favorable impression.

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“It just seems like a different feel at South Carolina,” Roller said. “Everyone’s way more welcoming (to) the visitors that are there. It hadn’t always been that way at the University of South Carolina. And it’s never really come from the coaches or the coaching staff there, but you can just tell a difference from the support staff people that they have now.

“From the custodians or from the guy working at the door, it just seems like it’s an effort to make people on campus or visiting their place feel welcome there. … It’s always been that way at Clemson. And now I can tell that same type of approach with South Carolina.”

The Gamecocks appear to be getting a low-maintenance — yet highly rated — prospect.

“I’m very humble. I’m a hard worker. No days off. I’m coachable. I’m very coachable,” the soft-spoken Thompson said. “I listen. I’ll do anything just to become great.”

Roller echoed that sentiment and took it a step further.

“Just watching him move on the field and as a big, long kid, watching him pass set and watching him get off the ball and get inside on the linebacker and move the way he does is just … you don’t find many kids with his size that can bend and can be as flexible and move the way he does,” the coach said.

“I think that’s rare.”

(Photo courtesy of Josiah Thompson)

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