Top local WR recruit picks South Carolina — and has one other big surprise

South Carolina picked up a big local commitment Friday, a day before one of its biggest football recruiting weekends of the year.

Ridge View High junior four-star receiver Jordon Gidron announced his commitment to Shane Beamer and the Gamecocks, hours before the Blazers’ game against Spring Valley. Gidron also announced he’ll be reclassifying from the Class of 2026 to 2025 — with the hopes of enrolling this January.

Gidron is the second high-profile local recruit to announce that he’s reclassifying to the 2025 class. Irmo’s Donovan Murph announced Tuesday that he’s also shifting 2026 to 2025 — a move a recruit can make academically if they’ve already got the credits needed to graduate high school.

Murph didn’t announce his college choice yet, and it might not happen until the February signing period.

Gidron picked USC over Alabama, Auburn, Florida State, Duke, Georgia, Miami (FL), Louisiana State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Ole Miss and Tennessee. Those were the final 12 schools he announced in July.

The Gamecocks offered Gidron back in December and have been recruiting hard ever since. He has made multiple trips to South Carolina and is expected to be in Williams-Brice on Saturday for the matchup with Ole Miss.

247Sports Composite, which factors in all recruiting rankings, has Gidron as the No. 1 prospect in South Carolina for the Class of 2026, No. 51 overall nationally and the seventh-best receiver in the country. He’ll likely land as the top in-state recruit for 2025 once the rankings are recalculated.

The 6-foot-2 Gidron is the fourth receiver to commit to USC for the Class of 2025, joining Lex Cyrus, Jayden Sellers and Brian Rowe. The Gamecocks also are in the mix for Murph and Rock Hill receiver Malik Clark.

As a sophomore, Gidron caught 45 passes for 731 yards and 10 touchdowns in eight games and won the 100- and 200-yard dash in the Class 4A championships.

This season, he has only played in three games because of a knee injury and has 17 catches for 121 yards. Gidron hopes to get back in the lineup soon.