4-star RB Peyton Lewis announces top 6 schools

Salem (Va.) four-star running back Peyton Lewis has narrowed his list of top schools down to six. His list includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Penn State, South Carolina and Tennessee.

The 6-foot-1, 190-pounder is the No. 171 overall prospect and No. 11 running back in the 2024 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He is also the No. 1 player in Virginia.

According to the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine, South Carolina holds a commanding lead to land Lewis’ pledge. The Gamecocks sit with a 43.4% chance while Virginia Tech sits in a distant second at 10.2%.

Bout that time!🔒🔒@336Edits pic.twitter.com/elCCRg4fI6

— ᴘᴇʏᴛᴏɴ ʟᴇᴡɪs② (@peytonlew2) May 12, 2023

South Carolina is the only school Lewis has set an official visit to so far. He visited Columbia last on March 18 and will be back on campus June 23.

“I had a perception of what South Carolina was like and what they’re about but after really visiting that image has exploded for me and really just kind of painted that picture for me, so the visit was very beneficial for me and definitely Top 2 in my offers so far,” Lewis told On3 following the March visit.

On top of the visit to South Carolina, Lewis also visited Tennessee and Virginia in March. He also visited Virginia Tech, James Madison and Penn State in January.

Lewis told Gamecock Central that he’ll likely make his decision near the beginning of his senior year.

“There’s a lot of factors that come to mind when making my big decision but I would say the key factor that would come into play would be just building relationships and getting to know the people because if it’s a top football program with the best facilities ever made but it’s not surrounded by great people who give off positive energy and good charisma then that’s just not a place for me, so really just some place where it has great people and great positive type of learning environment,” Lewis said.

Lewis currently has an On3 NIL Valuation of $78K. The On3 NIL Valuation is the industry’s leading index that sets high school and college athletes’ projected annual value (PAV). The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.