A prize recruit in South Carolina’s 2014 recruiting class, defensive end Dante Sawyer, will be headed to junior college instead of Columbia for his freshman season.
Sawyer, a four-star recruit from Georgia, learned he would not be able to enroll at USC because of academic issues. Instead, since he recently received his GED diploma, Sawyer will head to the East Mississippi Junior College and enroll as soon as possible.
He was ranked No. 88 in the ESPN300 rankings while he was being recruited, and he received offers from every SEC school except Florida and Texas A&M.
The Gamecocks signed five other defensive linemen to fill the enormous hole left in the defense by Jadeveon Clowney and company.
Abu Lamin, who was an early enrollee at the university this spring and is expected to receive significant playing time next year, and Dexter Wideman are the two other four-star recruits on the defensive line.
Sawyer was ranked the fifth-best defensive end in the nation in 2014, but he will have to contend with the likes of five-star defensive end Shameik Blackshear, of Bluffton, who will be a freshman when Sawyer is eligible to enroll at the university.