4-star QB Dakereon Joyner honors late father with commitment to South Carolina

One of 2018’s most athletic quarterbacks picked the Gamecocks over N.C. State on Father’s Day.

On Father’s Day on Sunday afternoon, four-star Fort Dorchester (S.C.) quarterback Dakereon Joyner made his verbal commitment to play for South Carolina over NC State. Joyner is the No. 9 dual-threat quarterback in the class of 2018, according to the 247Sports Composite. He’s now one of the 2018 class leaders for South Carolina with the commitment.

Joyner chose to commit with a ceremony from his high school on Father’s Day, to honor his own dad, who died when Joyner was 9. He was widely expected to pick South Carolina, after he trimmed his final five to a final two. (Georgia, Louisville, and Virginia Tech didn’t make the cut.) Joyner had said in the past he already decided where he’s going.

“Wherever I’m most at home at, wherever I’m most comfortable at,” Joyner told SB Nation at a Charlotte Nike recruiting camp this month. “I guess the best decision for my family as well. I can’t just be selfish with my decision.”

Joyner is from North Charleston, S.C., so the Gamecocks are the home-state pick. He speaks highly of both head coach Will Muschamp and co-offensive coordinator Kurt Roper, and it’s easy to imagine Joyner fitting well in Columbia.

“I feel at home. It’s right up the road,” he said.

Joyner’s a great athlete. He’s a former running back, and he ran a 4.64-second 40-yard dash at the Charlotte camp. He’s a shade over 6’, so he’s not big, but he’s not small.

If Joyner develops as a passer in the years to come, his athletic upside will make him an enormous problem for defenses in any collegiate league. He considers himself a passer before anything else, but he models his game after Michael Vick’s.

“Different sites say different things,” Joyner said. “But I think I’ve proven that I’m a quarterback, but I can run. If you ask any college coach, I’m a passer before a runner.”