South Carolina football filled class 21 this week.
Shane Beamer has now completed its first recruitment cycle with Gamecocks when the National Signature Day came to an end on Wednesday night. On paper, the class may seem a little discouraging, but when you dive deeper, there are many positive aspects moving into the off-season.
The Gamecocks lost almost half of their class after the dismissal of then-head coach Will Muschamp, meaning that Beamer had to assemble a new technical team and start recruiting in just two months. South Carolina signed the smallest class of any Power Five program, bringing in only 10 high school players and a trio of JUCO signatories. Most FBS programs have enrolled more than 20 players in this cycle.
But what the class lacked in size, Beamer made up for in the transfer portal. The Gamecocks class is at the bottom of the SEC and 77th in the country, but those numbers do not include the seven transfers that South Carolina has been able to make in the past few months. These seven transfers were the best of any team at the conference and included the country’s sack leader in 2020, an ACC performance wideout and an All-American quarterback honorable mention.
Another positive point is that Gamecocks were able to recruit in immediate positions of need, specifically in the wide receiver, linebacker and defensive back.
The high school lost six players from last year’s team, but Beamer managed to bring in two JUCO players and a Georgia Southern transfer that will affect rotation as soon as they step on campus. They also hired La’Dareyen Craig, a coveted freshman who was attracting great interest from the state of Mississippi and Auburn.
In the linebacker, the Gamecocks brought two big transfers in Jordan Strachan and Debo Williams, while getting a commitment from Tavareon Scott, a four-star college student.
And in wideout, Beamer got transfers from Ahmarean Brown and EJ Jenkins, while marking signatures for freshmen O’Mega Blake and Sam Reynolds. Brown was an artist at every Georgia Tech conference in his freshman season, while Jenkins landed 13 touchdowns last season at St. Francis College.
Here’s what Coach Beamer said about his new group during his press conference yesterday.
“When you look at our autograph class number and rating, yes, it’s small and it’s low and that was on purpose. When you talk about signing class rankings, nobody talks about the guys who were transferred, who are fantastic football players who will help this team right away … When you talk about being able to add a quarterback (in Jason Brown), it it was an honorable mention. American, a wide receiver (on EJ Jenkins) who scored 13 touchdowns last season, another wide receiver (on Ahmarean Brown) who was his team’s best receiver at Georgia Tech and tied some of the record receipts for Calvin Johnson, a defender back (David Spaulding) who has experience in a high profile program like Georgia Southern, an edge rusher (in Jordan Strachan) who led the nation in the sacks, a defensive lineman (in Jahkeem Green) who played in Nebraska and a linebacker ( in Debo Williams) who was the player of the year in Delaware leaving high school, is an impressive group. “
The group is small and, without going too deep, many will not be impressed with the recruitment rankings, but Shane Beamer did exactly what he needed in his first cycle. Many of the players hired in the past two months have made a big impact at the Williams-Brice Stadium this fall.