Rising Ridgeland senior Mason Harris became the second Panther from the Class of 2011 to commit to a Southeastern Conference football program when he pledged to play at the University of South Carolina on Monday.

Harris had 11 sacks and 13 tackles from his defensive end spot as junior, earning him All-Region status.

He had offers from Middle Tennessee State and Chattanooga, and is still expecting more, but decided on the Gamecocks after talking to South Carolina defensive line coach Brad Lawing near the end of his visit to Columbia.

“I wasn’t planning on committing when I went down there,” Harris explained, “but it’s one of my two favorite schools. It’s nice to know I’ll have a scholarship waiting for me when I get down there, and the facilities there are better than any other school I’ve visited.”

Harris (6-3, 210) has put on nearly 20 pounds of muscle since the end of basketball season and impressed Gamecock coaches with a 38-inch vertical jump, a 10-foot, 5-inch broad jump, and a blistering 4.4 40-yard dash.

“We’re excited for him,” Ridgeland head coach Mark Mariakis said. “He’s just a kid that works hard and has done everything we’ve asked of him. He came to us as an outside linebacker, but with his speed and long arms, we moved him to defensive end and he just found a home there.”

Harris said he is still hearing from other SEC schools, such as Kentucky and Auburn, and he still plans on taking a visit to Georgia, the school that teammate Devin Bowman committed to earlier in the spring.