Gamecocks offer 4-star RB from Mississippi
The South Carolina Gamecocks extended a new scholarship offer on Friday to one of the nation’s top 2025 running back prospects.
Quitman (Mississippi) product Akylin Dear, who’s ranked in the top 200 nationally for his class, was the recipient.
USC running backs coach Montario Hardesty dropped by Quitman High on Friday to check in on Dear.
The On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average of all four major recruiting services, has Dear as a four-star prospect and as the number 180 prospect overall for 2025. He is additionally ranked as the number 8 player in the state of Mississippi and as the 17th-best running back in the country.
Ole Miss currently leads the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM) for Dear, who’s already amassed an offer list covering a host of SEC programs and beyond.
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Last month, the 6-foot-1, 200-pounder listed Alabama, Florida, and Ole Miss as his current top three.
“Relationships are really important to me,” Dear previously told Chad Simmons of On3. “When it is my time, I just have to be ready to step up, so I am not too concerned with depth charts and playing time. But it is about who I relate to and connect best with.”
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The Gamecocks do not yet have a verbal commitment in the 2025 recruiting class. USC does have a lone commitment for the 2026 cycle in the form of Jackson (Alabama) quarterback Landon Duckworth.
USC has a running back pledged for the 2024 cycle in Georgia product Matthew Fuller, and the staff is continuing to heavily pursue four-star target Daniel Hill at the position.
In the 2025 class, other offers for the South Carolina football staff to running backs include: Leesburg (Georgia) Lee County’s Ousmane Kromah
Santa Ana (California) Mater Dei’s Jordon Davidson
Bradenton (Florida) IMG Academy’s Anthony Rogers
Lynchburg (Virginia) Liberty Christian’s Gideon Davidson
Buford (Georgia) Justin Baker
Alpharetta (Georgia) Amauri Anderson
