South Carolina football recruiting profiles: Donovan Darden
South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer and his coaching staff less than a month before National Signing Day. (Remember when recruits signed in February?) The Early Signing Period begins Wednesday, December 4th, and the majority of teams’ high school recruiting classes will be completed by the time the Early Signing Period ends on Friday, December 6th. In the weeks leading up to NSD, GamecockCentral will profile each player in the 2025 recruiting class. Today, we will look at linebacker/EDGE Donovan Darden.
Donovan Darden (3-star, Linebacker, 6’4″, 225 pounds)
What the rankings say: 3-star in On3 industry rankings, No. 654 nationally, No. 17 in North Carolina, No. 60 among all EDGE players; Donovan Darden is a consensus 3-star prospect
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Donovan Darden is a freaky athlete. As a high school player, he has played both defensive end and outside linebacker, and he is a menace as a pass rusher. South Carolina seems to want him to start his career at linebacker, but he can still use that pass-rush prowess as a ‘backer because the Gamecocks like to bring pressure from the second level of the defense. He also is the type of player who could put his hand in the dirt in obvious passing situations.
At the time of his commitment during the summer, Darden was unranked by On3. However, On3 now grades him as an 89, meaning he is one point shy of 4-star territory. Frankly, it would be unsurprising if he earns blue-chip status eventually. All four major outlets consider Darden an EDGE prospect.
Darden’s upside is tremendous. He has unreal “get-off” at the line of scrimmage when he is at defensive end, and he has really nice closing speed in pursuit, a very important trait for SEC linebackers. When he’s standing up in the second level, he has some similarities in his game to current Gamecocks Demetrius Knight and Bam Martin-Scott. Like the two USC veterans, Darden is physical but also possesses great acceleration as he chases ball carriers.
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Illustrating his athletic upside, Darden is a weapon on offense for his high school squad. He plays some tight end but is fast enough to run end-arounds from the position.
While he’s most experienced getting after opposing quarterbacks, Darden also has been utilized in zone coverage at the high school level, too, so the transition to linebacker in college won’t be quite as drastic as it is for some players who make the same positional move.
A native of Havelock, North Carolina, Darden is one of three players from the Tar Heel State in the class. 4-star wide receiver Brian Rowe and 3-star linebacker/EDGE Taeshawn Alston are the other two. He also is one of several hybrid defensive end/linebacker players in the 2025 class.
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You can watch some of Darden’s film below.
