Published Apr 15, 2021
Key LB target names Top 7, sets official
Wes Mitchell  •  GamecockScoop
Football/Recruiting Insider
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Jackson (Miss.) Madison Ridgeland Academy class of 2022 three-star linebacker Stone Blanton dropped his Top 7 schools on Wednesday and the Gamecocks made the cut.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound linebacker, who is committed to Mississippi State for baseball cut considers his football recruitment open, named a top group of Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Louisville, Oregon, Stanford, Texas A&M and South Carolina.

Not coincidentally, those are primarily the schools Blanton told Gamecock Central last week that he hopes to visit, and he's locked in an official visit to South Carolina for June 11, which is quickly turning into a big weekend on campus.

"They've been awesome to me," Blanton said last week of South Carolina. "They've been recruiting me pretty hard. I've loved getting to know them, getting to know the staff. I'm actually talking to Coach Beamer today and it's pretty cool how they can just set that up for me and stuff like that. They've been great to me."

Defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Clayton White has also made the MAIS 6A Player of the Year feel like a priority.

"I like him a lot," Blanton said. "He seems super cool. He keeps up with me. We talk a little bit every week. I've gotten to know him and I really like him too, so I'm really excited about it."

While the South Carolina baseball program has respected Blanton's commitment to Mississippi State in that sport - it's an unwritten rule that programs don't recruit kids committed to other schools - Blanton has been told that he has an opportunity to play both football and baseball at South Carolina.

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