2026 OL Darius Gray's Impression Of South Carolina "Gets Better And Better"

2026 offensive line prospect and South Carolina Football target, Darius Gray, is growing more comfortable with the Gamecocks.

South Carolina's Football program hosted its annual Summer cookout event this past Friday evening. While some key 2024 targets were in attendance, there were plenty of prospects from the 2025 and 2026 classes in Columbia as well. One of those prospects was 2026 offensive lineman Darius Gray, who hails from Richmond, VA, part of the DMV area that Shane Beamer and his staff heavily prioritize.

While Gray has been recorded by some recruiting sites as having visited South Carolina only a handful of times, he told me in a conversation after his recent stop that he's now been to Columbia five or six times, but his latest one felt much different.

"My impression of the place gets better and better every time I visit South Carolina, and the people there are amazing," Gray said. "The only thing that made it different this time was me being even more comfortable than before. I was playing corn hole, and I totally forgot I was even away from home. I was so comfortable, and [the cookout] allowed me to be completely free and have fun!"

Darius isn't the first prospect since the cookout that's indicated this to me, and the same goes regarding his relationships with offensive line coach Lonnie Teasley and head coach Shane Beamer.

"My relationship with them is great," Darius explained. "They're really great people, and they're guys I can constantly sit down with and just talk about things that are football and non-football related!"

Now that Gray has been to Columbia in a camp setting and a more laid-back environment, there's one other thing that he'll hope to do soon, which is see what Williams-Brice is like on a Saturday in South Carolina.

"I do plan on coming back down in the fall for a game!"

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