No. 1 edge rusher recruit set to announce college football commitment Saturday

The Under Armour Next All-America Game will be the setting for four-star defensive end Jaiden Bryant’s college commitment announcement. The 6-foot-4, 245-pound defensive end out of Irmo, S.C., confirmed his plans to announce his decision during the annual high school all-star game, which kicks off at 4:00 pm Saturday, January 3.

Rivals ranks Bryant as the top ranked edge rusher in their Top 300 prospects list for the class of 2027. The UA Next All-America Game started including underclassmen in their annual all-star game in recent years after previously reserving that honor just for graduating seniors. College commitment announcements have been a popular feature of the game since its inception, and Bryant is one of the prospects slated to make their college decision live at the game.

Six finalists for Bryant's commitment

#AGTG pic.twitter.com/JgdUya6f9T
— Jaiden “Boog” Bryant 🦍 (@jboog24_) January 2, 2026

Prior to Saturday’s announcement, Bryant revealed the six finalists from which he would make his final decision. The six teams featured on Bryant’s commitment announcement graphic were Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, LSU, Miami and Texas A&M.

What is most surprising about Bryant’s list of finalists is not which schools made the list, but which one did not. The home-state South Carolina Gamecocks were omitted from the group of six schools in Bryant’s graphic despite being the most likely school on Rivals Recruiting Prediction Machine for the four-star defender prior to the announcement. Bryant’s high school is just 13 miles from Williams-Brice Stadium where the Gamecocks play their home games.

Another school left off of Bryant’s list was Florida State, despite the high school junior having made multiple recruiting visits to Tallahassee already. The Seminoles, like South Carolina, did not make a coaching change this season like others on Bryant’s list, but head coach Mike Norvell is on shaky ground following back-to-back losing seasons.

New LSU head coach Lane Kiffin recently hired former South Carolina defensive line coach Sterling Lucas. — New LSU head coach Lane Kiffin recently hired former South Carolina defensive line coach Sterling Lucas to fill the same position in Baton Rouge. | Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

Earlier this week, Rivals/On3 college football recruiting insider Steve Wiltfong projected LSU as the team to beat for Bryant heading into Saturday’s announcement. The Tigers did make a coaching change, bringing in former Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin in November to replace Brian Kelly, who was fired the previous month. LSU has not yet hosted Bryant for a campus visit, but hired defensive line coach Sterling Lucas away from South Carolina last month.

As a junior, Bryant tallied 75 total tackles and 10 sacks for an Irmo team that went 12-2 on the season and finished state runners-up in South Carolina’s 5A Division 2.

Bryant is expected to wear No. 24 and play for Team Perls in Saturday’s UA Next All-America game, which will take place at SPEC Martin Stadium in Deland, Fla. Practices were held at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports venue at Disney World, and the game will be broadcast via ESPN’s YouTube channel.