Gamecocks land QB Landon Duckworth to open 2026 Cycle

While most of the recent recruiting success has been with the current 2024 class, the Gamecocks are officially two years ahead of schedule with today's addition of 2026 Dual-Threat QB Landon Duckworth. The 6'3" 190 lb Jackson, AL QB impressed earlier this spring at the Rivals Camp Series in Atlanta, before visiting several schools and picking up major offers from Auburn, Arkansas, UGA, Florida, A&M, TCU, Nebraksa, Tennessee, and Penn State, along with the Gamecocks. He visited South Carolina last weekend for the Cookout, which seemed to convince him to lock things in before his Sophomore HS season even begins, with Duckworth tweeting "After a long spring & summer of visits and camps & I turn all my focus to @JacksonFootball but I do know where (home emoji) is."

Back in April, Rivals' Adam Friedman had this to say about Duckworth's camp performance: "It was great to see him adjust to the speed of his receivers during the one-on-one session and he quickly became one of the receivers' favorite quarterbacks. With multiple Power Five offers already in hand, it shouldn’t be a surprise that he was one of the best quarterbacks in attendance."

Though no ratings have yet been released for the 2026 class, Duckworth should get a solid grade when those come out later this year. As a Freshman, Duckworth led his Jackson HS squad to the playoffs and put up gaudy numbers including nearly 2000 passing yards and 20 TDs alongside 400 yards on the ground and another 8 TDs, with several of them showing the lanky QB running away from veteran HS defenders.

It's always easier to build a class once you have your QB settled, and Duckworth should now be able to focus on recruiting peers in the 2026 class to see what the Gamecocks are building. Though there is a long way to the finish-line on this one, it's hard to not be excited about someone with Duckworth's skillset and early offer list choosing to lock in a verbal commitment to South Carolina.