The South Carolina Gamecocks football team, fresh off their 2012 Capital One Bowl victory over Nebraska, hit the recruiting trail and landed a much-needed piece for the 2012 season in kicker Nick St. Germain. This recruitment fills a major need for the 2012 roster, as USC loses its starting kicker and punter in the upcoming season. With a strong leg, St. Germain should compete for the starting field goal and kickoff specialist jobs right away. St. Germain (Powder Springs, Ga./McEachern) is rated three stars by 247Sports, which also ranks him as the nation's fourth-best kicking prospect for 2012. As soon as the Gamecocks offered, St. Germain chose them over offers from Middle Tennessee State, Georgia Southern and South Alabama. He was also receiving interest from Georgia Tech, Auburn and Florida. St. Germain is the 21st verbal commitment of the 2012 class and the ninth pledge from the state of Georgia for the Gamecocks. He is a high school teammate of current USC commitment Darius English and a former teammate of current Gamecocks Rory Anderson and Marcquis Roberts. This past season, St. Germain was 11-of-17 on field goals and converted all 52 PAT attempts. He also kicked 59-of-74 kickoffs into the end zone. St. Germain has the potential to be the next great South Carolina kicker like former Gamecocks Ryan Succop and Spencer Lanning.Read more South Carolina Football news on BleacherReport.com