South Carolina earns commitment from JUCO slugger. Here's his timetable for when he can play

Just hours ahead of Opening Day, South Carolina received some great news with a commitment from JUCO third baseman Dawson Harman on Friday. And there was nobody more excited about this news than Gamecock slugger Ethan Petry.

“When I didn’t think opening day could get any better! Welcome home brother,” Petry posted on his Instagram story.

Harman, who played at High Point in 2024 before transferring to the College of Central Florida for this year, has a close relationship with Petry. Both of them are Florida natives, with Harman being from Tampa and Petry from Land O’ Lakes. And when Harman received an offer from South Carolina, he immediately called his good buddy.

“I told him, I was like, ‘Hey, (Paul) Mainieri’s about to call me. Monte (Lee) and Coach (Terry) Rooney said they’re getting an offer ready or whatever,'” Harman told GamecockCentral. “I don’t know for sure, I think he jumped out of bed and he was just super excited for me. He was like, ‘Dude, this is what we wanted. Like, this is what you told me was going to happen, and this is exactly what I wanted with you.'”

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Harman’s commitment comes at an interesting time. He started his JUCO season on Jan. 26 and then he committed the day South Carolina’s 2025 season begins.

So it does beg the question: could Harman play for the Gamecocks this season? The short answer to that is no.

“I’ll finish the year here with JUCO ball down here, and then I’ll be able to get on campus in the fall, and then go from there with being a Gamecock,” Harman said.

For the rest of the 2025 season, Harman will continue to play with the College of Central Florida and look to keep playing good baseball. He’s gotten off to a tremendous start, hitting .391 with seven homers and 18 RBI in 12 games.

South Carolina has had its eye on Harman since the fall when Monte Lee came to watch him play. He got connected with Lee and Terry Rooney on a call a few weeks ago and there was a lot of interest still there. Then on Thursday, he went 3-for-5 with a home run and two doubles, which prompted them to offer him.

“They were like, ‘Yeah, we’re getting (Paul) Mainieri on the phone with you,'” Harman said. “It was just like, wow. I’m talking to a college coach who’s been around college baseball for a while with LSU and all that. It was honestly eye opening for me. It was like, wow. This is insane.”

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Harman is currently playing third base at the JUCO level. It’s a position he’s been playing since his sophomore year of high school. But he’s also played some in the outfield in his college career.

“Last year we had a sixth-year at third base, so the only opportunity for me was to move over to the other hot corner, first base, or play the outfield, which I was totally fine playing,” he said. “… So here it’s playing third, and then if they needed me to go somewhere else, I’m more than capable of doing so.”

As South Carolina embarks on a new era under Mainieri, Harman wishes he could be suiting up alongside Petry and the rest of the team this season. At the same time, he’s looking forward to finishing what he started in JUCO ball before coming to Columbia starting in the fall.

“If I could step on campus now and be a part of that team, that’d be the dream,” Harman said. “But to have the ability of finishing my JUCO season out with a great team we have down here, College of Central Florida, is going to be awesome, as well.”

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