On3 4-star IOL Elyjah Thurmon names top eight schools

After camping across the Southeast and racking up 22 total offers, Hinesville (Ga.) Bradwell three-star interior offensive lineman Elyjah Thurmon is ready to trim down his list of top schools. The 6-foot-3, 265-pounder has narrowed his recruitment to a top eight.

Thurmon announced on Sunday that he is down to Clemson, Duke, Florida, Georgia Tech, LSU, Missouri, South Carolina and UCF.

“Mostly it’s just the culture of how the team is, the coaching staff and then the brand of ball that they all play,” Thurmon told On3 about his list. “It’s just something that I love to see and I want to be a part of it.”

Of the schools still in the running, Thurmon has visited Clemson, Florida, Georgia Tech, LSU, South Carolina and UCF. He plans to take as many official visits as he can from September to December, with a decision likely coming at the end of the year.

“It was really big, I got to be coached up by the coaches and whatnot, then see how the players interact with the coaches and then everybody else,” Thurman said of his previous visits. “Then, also being able to see everything, the campus itself, then the facilities, it was eye-opening, it was great.”

Relationships, OVs will play big part in Thurmon’s decision

While Thurmon doesn’t have any current frontrunners, he’s being pursued the hardest by Clemson, Georgia Tech, LSU and South Carolina. Thurmon says he’s in close contact with the four programs and their respective offensive line coaches.

“That’s very big to me, because it just means you want to be able to build with me, especially before I get on campus and be a part of the team. So that’s real important to me,” said Thurmon, the No. 33 IOL in the 2024 cycle.

Thurmon is yet to decide which schools will be top priorities for his official visits in the fall, but those trips, along with his relationships with the coaching staff and school, will be crucial in his final decision.

“It’ll help me be able to be around the coaching staff and then the players and the team itself, to be able to see if that’ll be a place I want to be. And then especially for my mom, if that’s a place where she feels safe for me going to.”

“It’ll be the education, most importantly,” he added of his decision. “That’s the first thing…then the family aspect, then the culture of the team.”