Advertisement
football Edit

Spurs Up! Five-star Jordan Burch commits to South Carolina

The mystery is over.

Columbia (S.C.) Hammond School five-star defensive end Jordan Burch committed to South Carolina Wednesday during a ceremony at his school.

"Every visit I took, it felt like a home visit," Burch told the ESPN cameras that were on hand for the announcement. "I love the coaching staff. I love the people there. It's in town. I don't think I could have made a better decision."

[SUBSCRIBER LINK: Thursday update on Jordan Burch's NLI | Not a subscriber? Get 50% off your first year!]

Advertisement

Burch, the center of an intense recruiting battle, chooses the Gamecocks over finalists Alabama, Clemson, Georgia and LSU.

Head coach Will Muschamp, defensive coordinator Travaris Robinson and defensive ends coach Mike Peterson were all instrumental in Carolina landing the top prospect.

"You'd have to talk to Jordan about (why he chose South Carolina), but I think proximity to home was big," Hammond head coach Erik Kimrey said. "Coach Muschamp did a really nice job of developing a relationship with him from Day 1. It's easy for people to break it down in a bunch of different ways, but at the end of the day, it's all about relationships, and I think Coach Muschamp built a great relationship with Jordan and his family."

What are the Gamecocks getting in Burch, who is ranked the nation's No. 1 strongside defensive end.

"No. 1, they're getting a great human being, someone that I would trust to watch my own children," Kimrey said. "They're going to get an extremely hard worker. Jordan Burch probably gave more effort in practice than anyone else on our team, down in and down out. And then, of course, they're going to get a kid with an extremely high ceiling, that's got an unbelievable ability to use his athleticism and make plays in a lot of different capacities. It's a special day for him. It's a special day for South Carolina."

Burch saw head coaches from all five finalists visit Columbia last week to make their final pitches to the talented pass-rusher.

Burch created message board headlines this past weekend when he posted a Snapchat story from his Georgia official visit, a surprise stop in Athens on the final weekend before his recruiting process comes to a close.

Burch has also taken official visits to LSU and Alabama. While he didn't take an official visit to either in-state school on his list, he's been at South Carolina more than any other program, and Clemson can never quite be counted out in these close, big-boy recruiting battles.

Burch, ranked the No. 8 overall prospect in the country by Rivals.com, has accomplished the rare feat of keeping virtually everyone in the dark leading up to his decision.

That changed when he announced his decision to commit to South Carolina on ESPNU on Wednesday.


Advertisement