South Carolina men’s basketball won a Big Ten battle for the pledge of Erlanger (Ky.) Lloyd Memorial class of 2025 three-star power forward EJ Walker, who announced a commitment to the Gamecocks on a live stream from his high school gym Friday night.
The 6-foot-8, 220-pound Walker, the third commit to South Carolina’s 2025 class, chose the Gamecocks over Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Purdue.
“I’m really excited to be a Gamecock,” Walker told GamecockCentral. “And really what made me choose South Carolina was just we built a good relationship with Coach (Lamont) Paris. And then on my visit, we built our relationship with all the other coaches because they were all around the whole time. And I liked that a lot. And I really just think I’m going to get an opportunity to play, use my versatility, and play my game. And I think it’s going to be a good opportunity.”
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Walker, who emerged as a priority target for the Gamecocks, took an official visit to South Carolina on the last weekend of March, visit that helped set the stage for Friday night’s pledge.
“It was really nice,” Walker said. “I think the campus is just cool, it’s kind of like a little city, and I really like that about it. And then we went somewhere on campus and there was some little shops there (5 Points) and stuff. So I thought that was pretty cool.”
Like many of the prospects Carolina has landed, Walker mentioned the comfort level with head coach Lamont Paris as being a key factor in his recruitment.
“I think it was just easy to talk to him,” Walker said. “And like, it didn’t feel like we had to have forced conversation when we had a conversation. He’s just really cool and it just makes it easy to talk to him and he’s relatively too. He does fun stuff and he knows a lot too.”
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Additionally, he feels he’ll be a strong fit for Paris’ scheme.
“I think it’s really just being able to expose mismatches and like being able to get the rebound and dribble it up or even bring the ball up sometimes,” Walker said. “And really just being able to flow in the offense and take advantage of mismatches again and just get to the right spots.”
He is ranked the No. 125 overall prospect, the No. 28 power forward, and No. 2 prospect in Kentucky for the 2025 class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average for the four major recruiting media sites.
The Gamecocks now have three commits for the 2025 class as Walker joins Hickory (N.C.) Moravian Prep four-star shooting guard Eli Ellis and Greenville (S.C.) Powdersville PF Hayden Assemenian on the commit list.
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