South Carolina lands its 14th commit in the 2025 class. Three star edge, Jacquavious Dodd, out of Eastside High in Taylors, South Carolina officially commits to the Gamecocks.

The 6-5 edge defender is another piece Shane Beamer and company are looking forward to employing among the front seven for years to come. Dodd finished his junior season with 48 tackles, 24 tackles for loss, and 12 sacks.

South Carolina was the first SEC offer for Dodd, who held 19 offers overall. Locking down your own backyard is something Beamer and his staff has been focused on since arriving to Columbia.

Current Gamecock Commits:

Shane Beamer and company have been on fire this summer. This is the eighth recruit since June 8 with several more in sight.

Gamecock Digest’s Fisher Brewer listed the official visitors for a huge recruiting weekend in Columbia.

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INDIANAPOLIS, IND. (FOX Carolina) – The South Carolina Gamecocks said on Thursday that their swimmers concluded the U.S. Olympic Trials with a pair of top-20 finishes and other successes.

Greta Pelzek, a rising senior, advanced to the semifinals of the 200 fly on Wednesday. Pelzek was the 2024 Southeastern Conference silver medalist in the Short Course Yards version of the event.

Pelzek swam a new personal best Long Course Meters time of 2:11.70 in the preliminary trials and placed in 16th. This secured her a spot in the semifinals.

Once in the semifinals, Pelzek was able to drop her time by over half a second to 2:11.06, placing her in 15th place. She also competed in the 100 fly where she placed 30th with a time of 59.51.

Delaney Franklin, a native of Senaca, S.C., also achieved a top-20 finish, placing in 18th place with a time of 2:30.89 in the 200 breast.

Bella Pantano, a recent high school graduate, reached a new personal best time of 2:13.06 in the 200. She placed 26th. Pantano also finished in 48th place in the 100 back.

Amy Riordian, Meaghan Harnish, and Jordan Agliano placed 35th in the 200 free, 38th in the 400 Individual Medley, and 47th in the 200 back respectively.

Redshirt junior Sophie Verzyl represented S.C. on the 3-meter diving board, advancing her to the semifinals. She will compete again for a spot in the finals on Thursday at 5:00 p.m.

The Gamecock men also performed well. Raymond Prosinski, a rising sophomore, won the best finish of the event, placing 33rd in the 400 IM with a 4:23.66 on Sunday. Wylie Kruse, a rising senior, placed 35th in the 200 back with a 2:00.85.

Ryan Hufford and Liam Kerns finished 54th in the 100 back and 65th in the 100 breast respectively.

The Gamecocks listed all these swimmers’ times below:

U.S. Olympic Swim Trials Results

Women’s 100 Fly

30 – Pelzek – 59.51

74 – Agliano – 1:01.42

Men’s 100 Breast

65 – Kerns – 1:02.45

Men’s 400 IM

33 – Prosinski – 4:23.66

Men’s 100 Back

54 – Hufford – 55.90

Women’s 200 Free

35 – Riordan – 2:00.71

Women’s 400 IM

38 – Harnish – 4:58.61

Women’s 100 Back

48 – Pantano – 1:02.57

Women’s 200 Breast

18 – Franklin – 2:30.89

Men’s 200 Back

35 – Kruse – 2:00.85

Women’s 200 Fly

16 – Pelzek – 2:11.70

51 – Agliano – 2:17.88

Women’s 200 Fly Semifinals

15 – Pelzek – 2:11.06

Women’s 200 Back

26 – Pantano – 2:13.06

47 – Agliano – 2:15.18

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It’s the first day of summer on the calendar but we all know summer began as soon as school was out.

As I looked at today’s date on this sunny and warm day in the Shenandoah Valley, my mind drifted back to another first day of summer when my husband and I, along with our 16-month-old son, had driven to Charleston, S.C., to visit Virginia friends who were living there at the time.

On that first day of summer we started our day early, piling into our friend’s boat to explore Charleston Harbor and visit historical Fort Sumter on a small piece of land in the Atlantic Ocean. We spent the morning walking its pathways, exploring fortifications, and satisfying my inner history nerd by taking in the stories of the past.

Keeping an eye on the time, we left Fort Sumter and pointed the boat toward the South Carolina coastline, making our way into one of the delta inlets for some shrimping, a great pastime for our friends, and something that was about to become a new experience for us. It was time for the tide to go out so we needed to be in place.

We found a nice spot with no one around and anchored the boat to wait in the summer heat and humidity for the tide to go out as the sun baked down on us. The next few hours were spent slathering suntan lotion on to fend off the sun’s rays, picnicking on deck, swimming with our little boy in his life jacket, and waiting for the water to recede as the time for low tide approached.

The age-old delta flats have canals tunneling through them, channels where the water rushes out with low tide … and that is where we turned our attention. Jumping overboard with nets in hand, we stretched them across those channels to block escape and catch the shrimp that were being dragged out to sea by the tide.

Shrimp were plentiful and it didn’t take long to quickly load our nets, empty them into five-gallon buckets on deck, and repeat as we eventually hauled in enough shrimp to fill all the buckets. With the boat’s hull resting on the muddy flat, we had plenty of time to wait until the tide slowly returned to once again float us. During that time, under the broiling sun, we removed shrimp heads before icing them down for the ride back to dock.

The experience made an impression on me because we commented several times throughout the day that it was the first day of summer, the longest day of the year, and it was very hot on the salt water — mid 90s with no breeze. Thank goodness for all that water to cool off with frequent dips overboard.

It was a memorable event that I recalled yet again today on our first day of summer in the mountains of western Virginia where the forecast is calling for a hot week with temps in the upper 80s. Both memories, today and the day shrimping years ago in Charleston, are keepers.

Happy summer!