Fact or Fiction: Braydon Lee is locked in with South Carolina
Rivals national recruiting analyst Adam Friedman, Caleb Alexander of GamecockScoop.com, Jed May of UGASports.com and Richie Schnyderite of HappyValleyInsider.com tackle three topics and determine whether they believe each statement is FACT or FICTION.
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1. Braydon Lee is locked in with South Carolina.
Friedman's take: FICTION. Braydon Lee has been flirting with the hometown Terps for a couple of months and has already visited Maryland twice this season. Maryland and South Carolina have a bit of a recruiting rivalry going but it seems like South Carolina is in position to hold onto Lee’s commitment … for now. After visiting Columbia again this past weekend, South Carolina seems to have a stronger hold on the four-star defensive back. This race, however, is not over as Maryland will continue to push to keep the local standout from leaving the state.
Alexander's take: FICTION. There certainly seems to be a true battle brewing between Maryland and South Carolina for the DMV area recruit who is former high school teammates with Gamecock defender Desmond Umeozulu. South Carolina did send one of its most successful recruiters in Sterling Lucas out to see him last week, and Lee followed up with a visit this past weekend for the Florida game, so I wouldn’t put this one on red alert status just yet. But it does seem like Lee is open to what Mike Locksley is selling, and plans to visit the school at least once more before signing his officially commitment in December. I’ll put this down as one to monitor for fans of both schools.
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2. Georgia is in the driver's seat for 2025 No. 2 overall prospect David Sanders Jr.
Friedman's take: FACT. After seeing him for his first game of his junior season back in August I put in a FutureCast prediction for Georgia to land a commitment from David Sanders and I see no reason to back off that prediction right now. Another visit to Georgia a couple weeks ago seems to have further solidified Georgia's standing with the highly ranked star from Charlotte. The Bulldogs have had tremendous success in recent years on the offensive line and produced plenty of first-round draft picks at the position. Sanders has a chance to continue that legacy when he reaches the college level and it would not be surprising at all to see him issue a commitment for Georgia, possibly sooner than later.
May's take: FACT. Sanders has a strong relationship with Georgia offensive line coach Stacy Searels dating back to Searels’ time at North Carolina. Sanders has been on campus multiple times since Searels’ hire, including for the Kentucky game this month. Georgia just seems to be the school that pops up most in Sanders’ recruitment. While I wouldn’t go as far as to call the Bulldogs the prohibitive favorite, they definitely seem to be in an enviable position at this point.
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3. Penn State should feel good about its 2024 defensive line class.
Friedman's take: FICTION. Penn State is playing really well this season and it’ll be interesting to see how the defense performs when the team visits Ohio State this weekend. This game could shine a light on what could be one of the weaker points on the entire Penn State roster, the interior of the defensive line. Penn State has excellent defensive ends, fantastic linebackers and a really deep secondary but interior defensive line is a position group it has struggled with for years. That doesn’t necessarily seem to be going away after looking at this Penn State recruiting class. Missing out on top targets earlier this cycle was a gut punch but things are not over yet. Major targets such as top-100 prospects Ernest Willor, Florida commit Amaris Williams and a few others are still out there but don’t be surprised if Penn State also looks to the transfer portal.
Schnyderite's take: FACT. Penn State already has a pretty good defensive line class committed with several four-stars in Jaylen Harvey, Liam Andrews, T.A. Cunningham and Mylachi Williams to go along with a couple of underrated guys too in Xavier Gilliam and DeAndre Cook. So, yes, Penn State should feel good, but the best part is it isn't done yet. The staff wants to take this class from pretty good to dominant as they continue to target big names such as Rivals100 DL Ernest Willor and 2024 four-star Florida commit Amaris Williams to finish out the class. Look for Penn State to at least host a couple of these big names before signing day, but overall the staff should be pleased.